HDN: Reborn Part 1
by Golden Arc
Summary: The world of Gameindustri is governed by the four Goddesses. But It wasn't always that way, there used to be a different leader. A king. Yet no one remembers him. Thousands of years after his kingdom had fallen a young man is dragged on a journey to save a voice with a crazy purple haired girl. Why is there a man plaguing his dreams with stories of the king? Idk man
1. Chapter 1

_**AN: Welcome HDN: Reborn Part 1. This is my very own Neptunia FF and it's probably mediocre at best. One important fact before I get into this, this FF changes a certain part of this cannon. With my desire of making Rebirth 1 (Neptunia 1) canon I had to make a very large change to the world of Neptunia. All of the parts of Reborn will take place in the world map that every other Neptunia game takes place in after part 1. This will only cause small changes to the story of Part 1 expect for a giant change at the end. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Anyway enjoy and review.**_

 _ **Bonus: Due to my extremely long hiatus this is my comeback story and the one that I'm gonna pour all of my time into. I had been planning this for a while and will update regularly. Once every two weeks. However this will start with 6 chapters as I will do with every new story I make. My other Story SNO/HLP: His Trip will be on a longer hiatus than planned and I don't know when I will get back to it but I will try to get back as quickly as possible.**_

* * *

 __"The world of Gamindustri. A world ruled by Goddesses...*sigh* how boring. How better the world was when the King was in charge." A golden silhouette spoke to me. I had no idea where I was. All I could see was pure white interrupted by the silhouette who was sitting on a throne.

"..."

"Ah, yes. You don't know about the king. Sorry for assuming that you did. Would you like to know about him?"

"Sure, why the hell not?"

"Whoa! Language.*sigh* Kids these days...very well. Allow me to tell you the story of the King of Kings, the most powerful man the world has ever known." The world around the silhouette grew darker. "Hm...I'll start the story next time. Now, you better wake up, today will be a very important day for you, kid."

"My name is Arc, not kid."

* * *

I woke up to sound of crickets. "Ugh...I really need to complete this quest already." My name is Arc, Arc S.W., and I am a citizen of this world, Gamindustri. This world is governed by four Goddesses, aka CPUs. One for each of the four nations. Purple Heart of Planeptune, Black Heart of Lastation, Green Heart of Leanbox, and White Heart of Lowee. For a couple years now the CPUs have all been fighting over control in Gamindustri, The Console Wars as it's been dubbed. The citizens have all been rooting for their respective Goddess. But...I am not a citizen of any of those nations. For as long as I can remember, I have been an outsider, not that it's bad or anything. Just lonely. (D:) I mostly go around the world, completing quests for money. Right now, I am in Planeptune, on a quest to find something called a "Key Fragment".

Let me go into a more in-depth description about myself. Why? Eh, reasons. I am an 18 year old male, last time I checked. I am 5'6, with an average build. I'd have to say the part of me I'm most proud of has to be my pure blond hair...but it's really hard to maintain, especially since I'm constantly in dungeons. My hair is a bit long and droops a bit giving me small bangs. I'm wearing a simple open black jacket with a white undershirt as well as black pants. I sorta looked like a high school student, if this world was normal.

"*sigh* What the hell is a 'Key Fragment' anyway. I've never heard of this item." I start walking north slowly. "*sigh*I guess I'll look in the Virtua Forest." I didn't bother looking at the time but it seemed to be pretty late. I made my way through the dungeon...somehow and got to a small clearing. "Aw man. Nothing here either." As I said this I heard a strange hum coming from the sky. "?"

A figure rained from the sky. it fell towards me with incredible speed. I was engulfed into an explosion and my consciousness started fading "*sigh* I don't..."

* * *

"Wow! I didn't expect to see you so soon! Two encounters in one chapter?! Don't expect this to happen a lot in the future." I was in the white room again, with the same silhouette in the same throne.

"Just start the story already."

"Very well. Now...where should I start? How about the start. The King was born into a Gamindustri that is nothing like the one you live in. It was all one country. I sorta forgot the name. Sorry. Anyway the CPU of this nation was very selfish. All she cared about was power and truly was, in the King's own words, living trash. As the King grew he saw many of the CPU's horrible actions. She impacted his life in many ways, hurting his loved ones, destroying homes, all for power. She ruled over the nation with an iron fist. Keeping her citizens in line."

"Tch." A person like that...taking advantage of others, forcing their own ideals on others, that King was right.

The silhouette laughed at my reaction. "Just like the king. You seem to have a good heart."

"Wouldn't you know that? After all, you are in my brain." _What even is this? Why is this happening? I don't even know..._

"Not exactly...I'll explain in due time." The world begins to darken again. "Looks like it's time again. I'll see you when you fall asleep again."

* * *

"Ugh...My head is killing me." When I wake up I am in a room that I have never seen before. It looked like a little girl's bedroom. Very, very, _very_ pink.

"Wah! Don't make it so...tiiight!" Behind me I hear a girl seemingly complaining about something.

"Don't move around too much!" And another one. When I turn around I see a practically naked girl only covered in only bandages, lying on a bed. There was another girl, who was putting the bandages on. As a a guy who tires to be decent, I covered my eyes with my hair looking away from the girls.

"Um...excuse me? I would like to know why I'm here."

"Oh! You're awake!" The fully clothed girl, who had light pink hair, rushed over to me and looked at me from head to toe. She was wearing a fluffy pink sweater with detached sleeves. As well as a red mini-skirt with red stockings decorated with hearts. "Hmm...Strange. You don't have any real injures." _So girly..._

"Yeah...I sorta heal fast." The other girl got dressed and walked over. She wore a white and purple sweater-dress with a Purple N as her zipper. She did have light purple hair with D-pad hair pins and wore a white choker.

"Hey there, Guy! My name is Neptune! Nice to meetcha! What's your name?" _Is she really not going to react to me seeing her practically nude? Cool._

"My name is Arc. Now, where am I?"

The pink haired girl reacted. "I picked you and Nep up! You were unconscious next to her so I thought that you knew something about her."

"I have no idea what happened. I was looking for an item when an explosion went off and I got caught up in it. What was that anyway?"

"That was me! I sorta fell from the sky. Sorry!" Neptune said in an unexpectedly perky voice. "I also lost my memory so I have no idea why I fell." _...What?_

"Of course...that's perfectly normal. Anyway, I'm headed back to Virtua Forest to continue my search." I sit up while checking my body for any bandages.

"We'll go with you! It'll be good to see what is left from Nep's crash site." _What is she?! An alien?!_

"Alright. I'll probably need your help anyway. Thanks, Neptune and Ms..."

"Compa. Nice to meet you." _That explained that headband._ She had a headband with a giant pink C. I guess signifying her name.

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

"Alright! Time to beat up some monsters!" Neptune pulled out a wooden sword and Compa pulled out a giant syringe. _That's kinda creepy._ I, sadly, don't have a weapon at the moment.. to tired. "So, Arc, how strong are you?"

"Uh...not very..."

"Huh?!" Both Neptune and Compa stare at me.

"Sure, I do quests for a living but...I sorta suck. I'm more of a runner." They look at me judging eyes. "I-I mean, I'm good! But...I have shit defense. I'm just a normal guy! Don't judge me."

"Don't worry! I'll heal you whenever you need it!" _I'll need it a lot._ I can only heal faster when resting so it's pretty much useless in a fight. However when she lifted the giant syringe I got a bit worried. _She better not use that on me._ We headed through the dungeon until we got to the spot where Neptune and I were found.

"This is where I found Nep speared to the ground." _Now she's Excalibur... Cool._ "And I found you here, Arc!" She pointed to a patch of burned bushes with a pattern of my body.

"Holy fuck! I'm lucky to be alive." As we looked around for clues the ground suddenly the ground shook. "It's just one thing after another!" We all fell into an underground cavern.

"What the!?" Compa yells as a spider like monster grabs her to off screen.

"Oh no! Compa is being *censored*!"

"Neptune! Now isn't the time for jokes! We've got to save Compa!" I take another look at the monster. _That's easier said than done._ The monster had a human upper body with a spider lower body. The monster had a sword that was twice it's upper body size. Also it was freaking gigantic.

"Huh?" Neptune says out of nowhere. "Oh! Hey Histy!" _Who the hell is Histy? Whatever. I've got to help Compa!_ As Neptune continues to talk to herself I get into a fighting stance.

"Alright...let's not die!" I launch myself at the monster and start punching the one of its legs. Every normal attack barely does any damage. _Damn...I'm not getting anywhere with this..._

Suddenly the monster decides to attack, it swings it's large sword at me but it was slow enough for me to dodge. _Now!_

 _ **Counter Blitz!**_

I took advantage of the opportunity and attacked the monster while it was still recovering from it's last attack. A small white aura welded around my fist as I threw one of the hardest punches I've ever thrown in my life. However...it tanked the attack and immediately stuck me with an attack that was WAY faster than its last attack. I was pushed back by that attack. "Ugh! Of course!"

"I'll save you!" A sudden mature sounding voice yelled out as I was caught. "Are you okay, Arc?" The woman had long purple hair and was wearing a black and purple one piece, she had purple detached wings and a large purple sword.

"Neptune?" _What a change!_

"Stay here. I'll end this." She placed me on the ground and flew over to the monster. "This is the end!"

 _ **Cross Combination!**_

Neptune immediately destroyed the monster with one special skill. _I-I think I weakened it. Yeah..._

After the monster disintegrated it dropped a key like object. I stand up and walk over to Neptune and Compa. "So...what is this?" Neptune picks it up and it immediately disappears.

"Thank you for finding the Key Fragment." A disembodied voice says.

"Who the hell?!"

"Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot that Neptune was the only one who could hear me. My name is Historie. I'm in need of you help." The voice seemed quite calm and kind for someone who needs help.

"I'm assuming that Neptune already agreed, right?" I ask, not really knowing where to talk.

"Yes. I need you all to find the Key Fragments. Please."

"For what?" I asked. Why should I just go along with a weird, though slightly cute, voice?

"I'm trapped and need the Key Fragments in order to escape. Please..."

"Of course!" Compa immediately replies.

I, however, take my time and think. I take a look at the quest log I had on my phone. It said...

"'I sorta need to make sure a friend of mine doesn't find out I had this...but I lost it. Please find it and return it to me.'

Find: 1 Key Fragment.

Reward: 100,000,000 Credits

Share Reward: Other +10. Planeptune -10

Posted by: SexyMilf69"

In retrospect...it seems like a really evil quest. _But those Credits...I would never have to take another quest in my life. Whatever...for the greater good. Right?_ "Yeah, why not? It's not like I have anything to do with my life right now."

"I feel like there was a very sad remark in your answer. Ver...y...we...ll."

"Hm? What's wrong Histy?" Neptune asks.

"I'...m...lo...sing..." it seemed like our connection with her has stopped.

Just as that happens, Neptune reverts back to her regular form. "Whew! I sure am hungry! I guess we have to find another one of those Fragment-thingys to talk to Histy again."

"Alright...let's head back. I'm starving too." I remark.

"Yeah! Pudding. Pudding!" Neptune, Compa and I started walking back to the city. I felt like this was the start of a long hard adventure. I hope I don't regret this.


	2. Chapter 2

"And so the King decided that he must take down the horrible CPU. However, the King was just a normal human. He knew that he needed help to rebel against the CPU, so he decided to start a small resistance within his village. He was able to start the revolution with his two best friends...and so the army began to grow. The King..."

"What's this king's name?"

"His name? I don't think that it's necessary for right now."

"God dammit. That sucks."

"Anyway, the King was very social. Everyday he was able increase his army. Whether it was by one new member or twenty."

"Sounds like he was pretty popular. I bet he was a real lady's man." I said in a slightly condescending way.

"Well...he wasn't very good with the girls. Through all of his years as a king, he was never able to get a queen." *sigh*

"That sux."

"Don't use abbreviations!" _How the hell did I even do that?!_ The world grew darker again. "Until next time."

* * *

"I really need to figure out what these dreams are about." I said as I woke up. Due to the fact that Compa didn't have a lot of space in her home, I ended up sleeping on the couch. If I was a regular guy then I would have hated this but since I spent most of my time outside I got used to sleeping in weird places, I found it as a blessing.

"Oh! You're awake!" Compa said as I walked into the kitchen. She sat beside Neptune who was downing her breakfast.

"Omm phom Bom." Neptune attempted to speak but all that came out was gibberish.

"Don't speak with your mouth full, Neptune. It's disgusting." I sat down at the table and looked at the pajamas that Compa lent me. They were weirdly my size however...extremely pink. Not exactly my style. "So, what will we be doing today?"

"I don't really know." Neptune finally finished her food. "Maybe we should ask the citizens if anything around here has been weird."

"I'm not gonna be much help there. Trust me on that. I'm not the most social person out there." I take a piece of bread that Neptune left on her plate and began to walk over to the bathroom. "I'm gonna head to the Guild. Hopefully, I'll be able to find some good quests. I'm running out of Credits."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot that you're basically a hobo." Neptune walked over to me and patted my back. "You're like one of those people who say that You**** is a real job." _Please stop breaking the fourth wall. You're gonna end up getting us in trouble, you know!_

"Whatever." I shake off Neptune and walk into the bathroom to change. I came out in some new clothes. I was basically wearing the same stuff but changed the jacket for a hoodie. When I come out I grabbed another piece of bread and buttered it. "I'm headed to the guild right now. Call me if you need help. Okay?"

"Oky-doky! Be careful!" Compa and Neptune say in unison as I leave the apartment. _I seriously need to find a way to increase my endurance. I can't depend on Neptune like I did yesterday._ As I walked into the Guild I happened to notice that there was an abundance of quests for the area called "Monster Cave".

"What's going on to make so many quests for the Cave? Maybe a Fragment is there..." But when I read the quests...they were all "Monster" class quests. _Crap...if I'm gonna get as many of these done, I'll need to get Compa and Neptune's help. So much for independence._ I grab like 20 quests ( Idk how many i actually got. There was so much) and headed out of the Guild. As I did I happen to bump into the two girls I left to find.

"Yo yo! Just the man we were looking for! We're headed to the Monster Cave! Time to save the world!" _That's convenient. but where does she get all this energy?_ "Check it! Look at this sexy sword." Neptune pulled out a sword from I don't know where in broad daylight just to brag to me.

"Wow. Thats sooo cool." I retort. "But now that you mention it...I should probably buy a weapon set. I can't really use my fists for everything." I sigh taking out my wallet to look inside. I could have sworn a cloud of dust came out.

"If you want, I can lend you some Credits." Compa comes up.

"I'd rather not. I have to protect my pride."

"Yeah. You don't really have a lot of that left." _Just because you're right doesn't mean you're correct!_

"You guys head to the dungeon. I'll meet you there." I walk off, splitting up from Neptune and Compa again. Heading into a weapons shop.

"Hello there sir! Is there anything you need help with?" A shop clerk walked up to me.

"Hm...got any good weapon sets?" The clerk simply nodded and walked to the back of the shop. Leaving me to wait. When they came back they were holding simple swords. When I drew them out they had small teeth which would be perfect for gripping onto tough monsters. "Cool. How much are they?"

"15,000 Credits."

"...eh?" _Okay...I've only got 12,000 Credits. So, I have two options. Leave them, or..._ "Never mind. I won't take them."

The clerk had a look of disappointment on their face. "Very well. Have a good day."

I walked out of the store and started heading towards the dungeon. _At least I got a hands on with them. I should be able to use_ _ **that**_ _now. I hope it doesn't tire me out. Wait,_ _ **that**_ _? I'm starting to think like a protagonist. That can't be good._

"There you are!" When I got to the entrance of the dungeon Neptune jumped onto my back to my surprise.

"What are you doing?" I stayed calm. "Do you want a piggyback ride or something?"

"Yeah!"

"Sure, why the hell not?" _I'm good with kids._ Neptune got into it and acted like I was her Trusted Steed. However the first thing that happened once we stepped into the dungeon a pixel type enemy attacked. Neptune jumped off of my back and used it as a boost as she stabbed the monster, killing it instantly. "You know Neptune...you're surprisingly heavy."

"Not really. You're just really weak." When she retorted, she bonked herself on her head and stuck her tongue out.

"Your words hurt like knives." Suddenly a weird looking monster appeared behind Compa. It jumped over her and aimed for a punch straight towards me. _Shit! Looks like it's time to bust it out._

 _ **Projection: Twin Blades**_

The two swords that I held earlier appeared in my hands with a flash of light. The moment the swords fell into my hands I slashed it horizontally, causing it to burst into pixels.

"Cool! You did magic!" Compa went up to me, staring at my hands.

"Awesome! How did you do that?"

"Hehe. Well, I happen to specialize in a specific type of magic. I can create things that I have studied or touched. Best thing about, no matter what type of weapon I make, to me they are always light enough that I can wield it with one hand. To others...not so much. After all, it is an almost perfect recreation. I'm so cool."

"Cool! Can you make me some pudding?" _Of course that's the first thing she asks for._

"How about later. It takes some out of me every time I use it. I haven't used it for a while so...I've gotten stronger! I'm gonna be the best!" Compa and Neptune just walked past me.

"We gotta hurry up and check the cave out. Come on already." For a couple hours we tried our best to converse the cave but monsters kept on attacking us. I had already finished most of my quests before we even reached the middle of the cave that was signified by a bridge.

"Can we...take a break?" I asked leaning against the pole of the bridge. I took out a Nep Bull and drank it to hopefully replenish my energy.

"I think we should..." Compa practically collapsed when she tried to sit down on the other pole of the bridge. I passed her a Nep Bull as well.

"Okay...but, Arc! Check out the other side of the bridge to make sure there are no monsters to bother us." Neptune told me.

"Why should I? It's not like you're the leader."

"Well, I am the awesomest person here. Come on! I'll owe you one." _You already do for ALMOST KILLING ME!_

"*sigh* Fine." I walk off to the other side of the bridge and almost immediately something bumps into me.

"Jeez! Watch where you're going!" A girl sat on the floor, holding her head in pain.

"Crap! I'm sorry!" I reached my hand out to help the girl up and she gladly took it. "What's a girl like you doing in this dungeon? It's really dangerous you know." The girl wore a black shirt and matching black shorts however, the main attraction was her over sized blue jacket. It was so large that it almost hit the ground. She was barely able to reach her hands out of the sleeves. Around the waist of her jacket was a belt that held an unhealthy amount of cell phones. _That's a lot of monthly fees._ She had long brown hair that she kept in place with a green leaf bow.

"I noticed that there was a ton of amount of monsters here so I decided to investigate. You?"

"I noticed the same thing. My friends and I came here to check it out."

"Friends?" As if on cue Neptune and Compa came over to check on me.

"What's taking so...Oh! So you were flirting with a dungeon girl? You little perv." Neptune spoke up first, of course.

"I'm not smooth enough to do that to a girl I just met." I realized that this was the perfect time to introduce everyone. "This girl is Neptune and the girl next to her is Compa. These were the friends I was talking about."

"Nice to meet you." Compa and Neptune said in unison.

"My name's Arc. What's yours, miss?" The girl studied us.

"I'm IF. Quick question, why did you bring two little girls to help you in a dungeon?" _Aren't you a little girl?_

"We came here to make sure Arc doesn't get himself killed. This guy has terrible endurance. In and out the bedroom." Neptune already destroying my reputation with IF.

"Hey! One of those was way wrong!" When I said this all three of the girls blushed a bit causing me to get flustered as well. "I-I mean..."

"N-No need. I get it. Well, I was actually gonna leave to get help. But you guys showed up. Wanna team up?" IF offered.

"Of course! Welcome to the party Iffy." Neptune wrapped her arm around IF's neck.

"Iffy?"

"Yeah! IF= Iffy. It's a great nickname, don't you think?"

"Yeah!" Compa automatically agreed.

"I'll call you that if you'd like. If not, I'll respect it, IF."

"It's fine." Iffy moved away from Neptune and walked over to my side. "Seems like you're the only one here who's sain. Hope we get along."

"Same here." With Iffy in our party we were able to get through the rest of the cave pretty easily. Iffy's weapon of choice was Qatars, basically blades that stick out of her sleeves.. She also seemed to be pretty good with magic but couldn't use it very much. We were finally able to get to the end of the cave after about 2 hours.

"Alright...there has to be..." I started walking around until I stepped on something. "Hm? A disc?"

"Wait!" Iffy comes over and takes the disc out of my hand. "This must be what is causing all the monsters to spawn. I've heard of these kinds of discs."

"Really? How'd you know?" I can't help but ask. I turn my back to Neptune and Compa who are making small talk at the time.

"Well, I've been all around the world. You hear this stuff when you go around."

"Really? I never heard about that. Hm, I guess it's cuz I don't really like to eavesdrop." Iffy seemed to perk up to my words.

"What exactly do you do? Aren't you a citizen of Planeptune?"

"Nope. I'm a freelance adventurer. I don't really belong to any country.*sigh* I'm lonely."

"Well, not anymore." Iffy pats me on my back playfully. "I happen to not belong to a country as well and I'm an adventurer to."

"Really?! I haven't met another adventurer! Have you..." My excitement takes over for a moment but then I remember what we're here to do. "Wait, let's continue this conversation later. We should probably destroy this disk before anymore monsters spawn."

"You have a point." Iffy grabbed the disc with both of her hands and broke it in half. "Now then, time to get back to town." Iffy and I turned around and saw Neptune and Compa were speaking to a lady wearing all purple.

"Who is this lady?" I walked over to them nonchalantly. "Hello there"

"Who the hell are you?!" She throws away my kindness.

"I'm Arc. Who are you, Old Hag?!" I returned her attitude.

"I am Arfoire, learn your place." I noticed that Neptune and Compa were on their guard. "Now then...let's get back to business Neptune!" Arfoire raised her hand to Neptune and a purple light glew. She started reaching over to Neptune.

"Watch it!" I pushed Neptune out of the way and ended up replacing Neptune. I felt my very soul move in my body, it felt like it was gonna leave my body. "Guh. What the actual hell?!"

"What?!" Arfoire exclaimed as she stepped back. "Dammit...why do I feel so weak?"

"Ah! She copied Arc! Now she's all weak! Now, we can beat her up!" Neptune said as she readied for a fight.

"What do you mean?! And I'm not weak!"

"While you and Iffy were flirting over there, this old lady was talking about how she can copy people or some swiggity swag like that." Neptune said all matter-of-factually.

"W-We weren't flirting! I just met this guy a couple hours ago!" _The fact that she's getting so defensive kinda hurts._

"Oh? So you don't like him? I'll gladly take him if not..." Neptune kept teasing and teasing us.

"W-Well...I didn't say that..." _I feel like I'm just turning into a living joke._

"Are you useless children going to keep me waiting or what?" Arfoire finally spoke up.

"Oh! Alrighty, let's get her." Neptune launched right at her keeping her sword right by her side.

"How stupid can you be?!" Right when Neptune was in front of Arfoire she simply smacked her away with her lance.

"Nep!" Compa went right to her side while Iffy launched forward.

"Now then..." When she came close to Arfoire, she dodged her lance by jumping back.

" _ **Demon Flames"**_

A magic circle appeared below the still recovering Arfoire. Almost as soon as it appeared, flames erupted out of the circle in a pillar shape. "Alright. That should do it."

Nope. As everyone knows, whenever you say that in a fight it is never the end. Right as Iffy said that Arfoire came out and pinned Iffy to the ground,with the blades of her spear right up to her neck.

"Iffy!" _Alright, my turn!_

 _ **Projection: Twin Blades**_

I summoned the two blades I had earlier and rushed right at the two. "Get off her!" I promptly kicked her off and slashed at her, but she somehow blocked my slashes. "You alright?"

"I'm fine. pay attention to the fight!" When I turned around Arfoire was throwing her spear at me. Lucky for me, Iffy had pulled me down causing her to miss.

"Thanks. I owe you one." I got up and tried to counter but she dodged. _Damn...She's just too fast._

"You know what? Screw this!" Time for MC super awesome time.

" _ **Projection: Blade Dance"**_

I mustered up all of my energy and and created about 50 different types of swords that were floating above me. "Take this!" Everyone of them fell towards Arfoire in an alarming speed. After they all fell there was no sign of Arfoire, of course that didn't kill the main villain of this fic so either she ran away or she's still around.

"Damn it..." I fell onto my knees and took a couple deep breaths. _I'm absolutely exhausted...I can't move a muscle._

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Arfoire appear and she was flying right at me, at full speed. "Not so fast." The mature voice that I had heard before had appeared again. Neptune, who was transformed, had stopped the attack. Saving me again. "Arfoire, you have lost. Leave now if you want to live." She was out numbered, weak and was facing a transformed Neptune. No win in sight.

"Tch. I'll get you soon. Enjoy this win Neptune, it won't last for long." Arfoire immediately disappeared after her threat.

"Are you okay, Arc?" Compa came over to my aid.

"I'm fine. Just exhausted...and hungry." I finally caught my breath and stood up, dusting myself off. "Can we head back now? I really need a nap." I took one step causing myself to face plant into the ground.

"*sigh* I'll help you." Iffy came over and helped be stand. She put my arm around her neck and prompted me up. "Let's go." _God I suck._

* * *

"I'm taking the coach. Okay?" I didn't even wait for an answer, I just collapsed onto it. It's just after dinner. Compa, Neptune and I were in Compa's apartment again. Iffy went to a hotel and said that she'd meet up with us in the morning.

"Oky Doky! More pudding for me!" After all the Projections I had used today I was way too tired to eat. The only thing on my mind was sleep.

"I couldn't care less. Night..."

"Night" The girls said in unison. The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was Neptune wolfing down my pudding. _She's annoying as hell, but there is something about her that keeps me around. I don't know what it is..._


	3. Chapter 3

"Well, looks like you are just increasing your harem aren't you?" The Goldman, as I've dubbed him, said.

"Nope! This isn't that kind of story. Anyway, I have a question for you."

"Well, I guess we could have a break from the story for today."

"Okay, what are you?"

"Me? I am...just the spirit of a citizen under the King. I can't help but feel sad about the fact that the King is all but forgotten in Gamindustri now. So I felt like telling a young man, like you, about him."

"What? Am I going to end up being the King with amnesia or something cliche like that?"

"No. This isn't that kind of story." Although I couldn't see the Goldman's face, I couldn't help but fell like he smirked at me.

"How convenient. " The area grew dark again.

"Well, I'll see you next plot day. Bye-Bye!" _He's way too happy go lucky._

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC!"

"UGH!" First thing in the morning, Neptune jumped onto my stomach, waking me instantly. "I-I think I'm gonna die..."

"Come on buddy! We're headed to Lastasion today! Don't die on me yet." She jumped off, all triumphantly, and walked to the fridge to enjoy a cup of pudding.

"G-God dammit Neptune..."

An hour later, after having Compa make sure I didn't have any internal bleeding, I went to the Guild to hand in the quests I did a couple days ago. _I swear, Neptune is either going to get me killed or kill me herself. Maybe both. Granted she did save my life twice...but still. Compa's not much better either. Every time I ask her for help she just wants to "test out" her giant syringe on me. If only I knew someone who wasn't crazy._

"Yo! Arc, how're you feeling?" Speak of the devil. It's been 2 days after we met Iffy. Since then we've gotten along pretty well. Not only that but we've also decided to be "partners" in a sense. Since we were both freelance adventures it would be not only easier to complete quests but also be safer to work together. She even decided to join our quest for the Key Fragments. Iffy was at the quest board. Looking for anything new.

"Hey Iffy. Not so good... for some reason I'm living with two girls who'll probably kill me." I walked over to her, trying to see if there is anything for Lastasion as well.

"Why are you even living with them. I'd expect you to crash at a hotel or something."

"That's what I usually do but those girls ate my credits away. I'm practically broke."

"Sheesh. I can't believe you got forced into buying food for girls like that."

"Well...I did offer. *sigh*"

"Hehe. You're way too nice for your own good." She walked away from the board, and she headed to the turn in kiosk. "You know...You could crash with me..." Iffy said as she looked at the kiosk.

"I'd love to but, I sorta owe Neptune. She did save my life twice." I said rubbing the back of my head. "Plus, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who would make sure she stays on track. Compa is way too nice to her"

"Hmm...Alright. I get it. We should go meet up with them. They said they'd be at the Basilicom." She moved away from the kiosk and grabbed my hand. Pulling me out of the Guild. "Let's go, Partner." She had a slight blush as she held onto my hand. _I'm getting the feeling she's into me. Nah, we've only known each other for a couple days. Impossible...probably._

* * *

Iffy and I met up with Compa and Neptune in front Planeptune's Basilicom. The Basilicom was a giant white and purple tower that looked expensive as hell to maintain. "Can you guys tell me why we're headed to Lastation?"

"Well, we were think that there may be a Key Fragment there. Plus, It'd be good to see if we can find any info about Nep." Compa explained to me.

"Wow. That actually made sense. I thought you guys would have a stupid reason but, I'm impressed."

"As the Main Character, I always make sense. Every step I take is an important one!"

"Aren't I the Main Character? I am the only guy in our group."

"But I am the one with amnesia. That makes me more important!"

"Well...I'm the one...ugh. Dammit." I just give up and walk into the Basilicom. _I swear. Neptune is just way persistent._

"Hey, we would like to go to Lastasion. Can we get approval?" I spoke to a man in a suit who sat behind the front desk in the Basilicom. Due to the console war each nation have strained relationships with each other, causing it to be very difficult to even visit another nation. It's supposed to be extremely hard to move around but...

"Oh! Sure!" The worker started typing something on his computer before he looked at me and then the girls. "Your names?"

"Arc S.W."

"IF"

"Compa!"

"And I am Neptune!" _Of course you had to add something..._

"What a cute loli child! Okay. Arc, IF, Compa and Neptuane? Nep...tine?"

"Are you serious? Why can't you say Neptune?"

"Well, I can't say it either. That's why I call her Nep-Nep." Compa added. I couldn't help but connect my hand and face. _There is literally no reason for this quark._

"Anyway, you are all set. You can head out whenever you want. Please be careful." The man told us.

"Alright! See ya buddy!" Neptune said as she skipped out of the Basilicom. As I went to follow the girls the man stops me.

"So...what is your relationship with the cute loli child?"

"I guess you could say I'm her guardian. Why?"

"No reason. Take care. be careful and have a nice trip!" _This guy has a weird obsession with Neptune..._

I met up with the group and we began to walk over to the train station that was a couple blocks away. "Soooo, what does S.W. mean, Arc?" Neptune asks, getting way too close to me.

"N-Nothing! It's just that! S.W. Weird, huh?"

"Why do I not believe you?" Iffy asks. "C'mon. We're all friends here. Just tell us."

"*sigh* Don't laugh alright?" All three of them nod. "S.W. Means System Works. My full name is Arc System Works."

A moment of silence until "GAHAHAHAHAHA" Both Neptune and Iffy began laughing their asses off. Even Compa was giggling

"S-So you're telling me, that your name is Arc System Works?! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my entire life!" Neptune barely got out until she fell onto the ground laughing.

"God dammit." I could feel my cheeks getting red with embarrassment. "Screw you guys." I walked away towards the train, leaving them behind.

* * *

Lastation had a steampunk vibe coming from it. The main city was filled with factories and junkyards. The city has constraint smoke emitting into the sky. I've been to Lastasion a couple times and I'd have to say it has to be my least favorite nation. It's just that this place is a bit too polluted for my taste. It's hard to breath here and I feel like I could suffocate at any moment. I mostly stay in Planeptune and Lowee. Lowee is my favorite though.

"Gah!" Once I take a breath of Lastation's air I instantly choked. Out of reflex I covered my mouth. "Gah...I swear every time I come here this place just gets more and more polluted. Can we just do whatever we have to and leave? I feel like I'm gonna die if I breath anymore of this air." I take out a napkin and cover my mouth with it.

"You don't really spend a lot of time in Lastasion, huh?" Iffy asked.

"Nope. Due to my terrible endurance my lungs aren't the best."

"Oh Arcy. You've really gotta fix your endurance or you'll never take over the world!" Neptune said, teasing me again.

"Arcy? What kind of nickname has more syllables than the actual name?"

"Iffy" She herself deadpanned. And awkward silence took over the scene. _...She's absolutely right. Dammit. I lost again._

"Let's just head to Lastation's Basilicom. The CPU might know where the Key Fragment is." All I did was nod at Iffy's suggestion.

The Basilicom, was a large grey building with a very strange piece of modern art right in front. Once we entered the lobby I felt a whole different aura about it compared to the one in Planeptune. I felt a bit of hatred. "What do you want?" was the first thing the receptionist said to us. _I knew it._

"We'd like to talk to the CPU, please." Iffy took charge.

"The CPU isn't taking visitors right now." The worker said. He was dressed in a grey suit and wore sunglasses...indoors.

'Come one. Pretty please." Neptune attempted to use her "Cute loli child" powers.

"No." _But to no avail._

"Arcy..." Neptune came over to me and whispered in my ear. "I think this guy is into dudes. Take one for the team."

"Absolutely not! Neptune, I really don't feel like putting anything up my bum, just for aa stupid meeting." The receptionist seemed a bit uncomfortable. "Not that there's anything wrong with liking that man. You do you. But I'm not interested."

"Get out! NOW!" He yelled, pushing us out of the Basilicom.

"Thanks a lot Arcy! If only you could just let it happen we could be having tea with Histy by now."

"Highly unlikely! Dammit Neptune, why do you always do this to me?"

"Alright, sorry. I won't do it anymore...for a while." _This is teasing thing is getting annoying._

"It's alright. I doubt we'd get anything from him even if Arc sacrificed his 'bum'. Let's just walk around and see if anyone has any info on the CPU."

"Thanks you! Finally someone sane." I couldn't help but pat Iffy after she defended me. "You're the best!"

"N-No problem. Let's just look around town."

"Why do you treat me so much differently from Iffy?!"

"Because you're Neptune. Let's just look around."

"Dammit Arcy!" After walking around Lastaion, Neptune starts complaining about being hungry and stuff.

"Come on! Let's just take a break!" Neptune complains specifically to me. "Arcy! Aren't you hungry too?"

"Arcy! I want a break too!" _Great. Now Compa's calling me that..._

"No. We have to find a way to meet the CPU. Black Heart is our best chance to find a Key Fragment."

"You guys want to meet the CPU as well?" A blue haired girl wearing a red coat, white scarf and black shirt that doesn't leave anything to the imagination. She also wore black pants.

"Yeah...and who wants to know? *cough* Shit."

"Chian. Pleasure to met you. If you guys are hungry I know a good restaurant. Wanna come and have a bite?"

"Hell yeah! You're the best!" Neptune, of course, immediately agrees and follows Chian. Compa follows closely behind.

"She's way too trusting. I swear one day Neptune's just going to walk head first into a trap."

"Let's just go. I know you're starving and I could use some food as well." Iffy starts following the girls and I had no choice but to do the same.

* * *

Turns out Chian owned a factory and the "restaurant" she was talking about was the cafeteria of the factory. Food was still good. Anyway, after everyone ate instead of having my credits taken from me to pay, Chian offered us a job. "I've been working on a weapon to show off at the Lastaion technology event. If I am able to win that event, then I could be able to met Lady Black Heart." _I need to do more research about the CPUs. I barely know anything about Black Heart. Not even how she looks._

"Why do you want to meet her? I mean, Lastation isn't exactly in the best shape." I said to her. We were all sitting around in a table of 6. There was a empty seat of course but it just held all of the dirty dishes from the food. I was sitting right in front of Chian. If we were going to talk about business, I was the best choice to listen to her. Not because I know anything about business but because I was the most serious person in the party next to Iffy.

"Well yes. But it isn't exactly Lady Black Heart's fault. It's all Avenir's fault."

"Avenir?"

"They're a company that's based in Lastaion. While Lady Black Heart was gone with the war, they practically took over. They've almost doubled Lastasion's pollution."

"So they're the reason why I could barely breath here." I thought about it. _If we can help Chian, then we could met Black Heart. If we do that then we get rid of Aviner and make Lastation normal again. Or as normal as it could be. Alright...plus, we'd probably get a fragment._ "If there is anything we could do, Chian, please let me know. I'll gladly help you and I know that the others would as well."

"Wait!" Neptune suddenly appeared, and stopped our conversation. "We will help you on one condition."

"Neptune! What the hell are you planning?!"

"The condition is free pudding! I will pledge my loyalty to you if you give me just one cup!"

"*sigh* Deal." Chian faked reluctance and agreed to Neptune's condition. "Okay, I have a job for you all."

"Okay! What is it?" Compa asked. _She's been awfully quiet today._

"My friends have been trying to move some materials. But a monster keeps attacking them, I need you guys to take care of the monster."

"What makes you think that we could even take the monster?"

"Yeah! Arcy isn't exactly the best. If it wasn't for me he'd be dead!"

"Shut up Neptune. If it weren't for me I doubt you'd be able to beat Arfoire."

"Eh...highly unlikely!" _Don't use my own words against me!_

"God dammit Neptune! " As Neptune and I argue over who saved who, the other three giggle a bit. "And another thing..."

"Arc! Can we just get this over with already?" Iffy yelled. Although she did have a smile on her face.

"S-Sorry..." We both said in unison.

"Anyway, we're in. Where is the monster?" I asked Chian who was still giggling.

"In West Wind Valley. All I know about the monster is that it is some kind of bird."

"Alright. We're headed out now. Come on guys."

"Yuppy!" Compa and Neptune said in unison and ran outside the restaurant.

"Ready partner?" I asked Iffy.

"As ready as I'll ever be."


	4. Chapter 4

"Huh...that's a pretty large canyon." We had finally reached the entrance of West Wind Valley. It was, just as its name presents, a giant valley with both sides of the valley being connected by bridges multiple times. "So, where do you guys think the monster would be?"

"Well, since this is a dungeon and we are the main characters I have to say...it's at the end." Neptune said as she walked up to me.

"Knowing my luck I'd have to say your right. Ugh...I hope I have energy for the monster."

"Don't worry! I'll take care of you if you get any injures!" Compa added in. She was in her usual spot, right next to Neptune. Holding that damn giant syringe however this time it had a different liquid in it. It was green and it creeped me out even more. _If I found out she was a psychopath, I wouldn't be surprised._

"Uhh...Yeah, let's just head out." Throughout the dungeon we encountered living flowers, giant birds, oddly busty flower women, flying rocks and weird dog like creatures with flat heads. _These monsters just get stranger and stranger as this adventure goes on. I'm gonna end up fighting a head riding a surfboard._ "Finally, we're at the end." I collapsed on the ground, back first.

"Now then, where is that monster? Hell we may have already killed it, after all we don't know what it is." Iffy sat next to my corpse. Pulling out a Nep Bull and handing it to me. "Want it?"

"Iffy, you are my savior! At this rate I'm gonna end up falling for you." I sat up and grabbed the energy drink.

"W-Wha?! It's not my intention! I'm just helping you out. You are my partner after all!" Iffy said as she blushed. Failing her hands around. _She's taking my words way too seriously. Wait...since when did I tease people?! Neptune is having a bad influence on me._

"You know, you're really cute when you blush."

"U-Um...let's just focus on the mission, alright?"

"You two are so good for each other!" Neptune jumped in the middle of our conversation. "You silly samies! This isn't the place to do this."

"W-We're not doing that, Nep!" Iffy stood up abruptly and and started walking away then turned back to us when she was about 10 feet away. "I just..."

"Iffy...Stay calm." I noticed something behind her, moving towards her slowly.

"I-I am calm! It's just...we just met and all...but I guess I do sorta, kinda, maybe, have feeli..."

"CAW!" The monster behind her cried out. I finally got a good look at it. It was a large red bird with weirdly techno style wings. The monster suddenly gets ready to peck at Iffy.

"IF!" I ran to her at full speed and push her out of the I was in the same position as Iffy was a couple seconds ago and the bird used a peck attack right at me.

 _ **Projection: Blood Sucker**_

I blocked the attack with a new sword. It was a large sword with two parts. The main blade was a giant white piece of metal attached to the handle that was a like a black and red baton with a revolver near the handle. It was fairly large but was easy to handle.

I pushed against the beck and the bird as well. "Arcy! Are you alright?" Neptune, who had just transformed, came up to me. Sword at the ready. Compa was right behind us with Iffy.

"I'm good. Though I could use some help here."

"Very well. What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to keep it distracted for a while. Can you help out to, Partner?" Iffy unsheathed her weapons and got into a fighting stance.

"No problem!" Iffy and Neptune dash right to the bird as I step back, standing next to Compa.

" _ **Demon Flames!"**_

" _ **Cross Combination!"**_

As Iffy created a magic circle a couple meters behind the bird, Neptune used her skill and was able to force the bird into the circle right on time for the flames to erupt. _They make a great team._

"Alright. Compa, do you have any items that will immediately replenish my energy?"

"Yuppy!"

"Can you throw pretty far?"

"I think."

"Good enough. When I give you the signal, throw it to me. Okay?" Compa nodded and I got into position. I switched to backhanded position with my sword and logged the blade into the ground. "Iffy!"

"Got it!"

" _ **Break Edge!"**_ Iffy stabbed one of her qatars into the wing of the bird, causing it to freeze in place. After her attack, she flipped back next to the transformed Neptune.

"Now then. _**Ground...**_ " I began to run towards the bird with the blade still logged in the ground. The entire time the blade was pierced through it, creating a path. When I reached the bird, I had gained enough speed and lifted the blade out of the ground. " _ **Viper!**_ " When the sword launched of the ground, due to it's speed it was went vertically into the air, lifting myself and the bird. It slashed through the monster and both it and I were still in the air. _It's still alive. Might as well waste all my energy here._

I repositioned my sword into a front handed position. I put the handle of the blade into my shoulder and angled it to into the bird's chest. " _ **Raging Lion!"**_ Once I pierced the the monster, it vanished from thin air. Dying instantly. _Time to strike a pose._

Onced I landed, I shoved my left hand into my pocket and placed the sword over my shoulder. "Mission: Complete."

"Wowy! Arcy, you're so cool!" Compa said as she and the others ran over to me.

"Hehe. Of course I am." I lifted my free hand into the air, a signal for Compa to throw me the drink, when she did...it hit me square in the face. "Always when I try to be cool..." I fell face first into the ground. The sword disintegrating as I did.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry!" Compa came up to me, placed me onto my back and put the drink to my lips. Feeding me like a baby.

"You sure were effective, Arcy. I have to say, I'm impressed." Neptune, who was still transformed, said.

"For someone who isn't strong, you sure are strong!" I stood up and dusted myself off.

"Yeah, yeah. Now that we're done, why don't we..."

"Hold it right there!" A mature voice yelled out. Right behind us was a floating woman with six blue detached wings, white hair, wearing a black one piece with silver detached sleeves that really complemented her...assets.

"She sorta reminds me of you, Neptune." I said as I looked up to her.

"She does seem a bit familiar..." The woman floated over to us.

"Well, it's been a while, Neptune."

"Huh? You know me?"

"Well, of course I do. How could I forget my worst enemy?" _This isn't looking to be going so well._

"Excuse me, miss. Who might you be?"

"I am Black Heart." _She isn't as godly as I thought she would be..._ "I knew you would show up eventually Neptune. No we can finish what we started!"

"Wait! I don't even know who you are, let alone why we would fight!" Neptune tried to reason.

"My, my. Seems like you hit your head pretty hard after that fall, huh? You've got amnesia, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. Please tell me everything you know about me!"

"I could do that...If you defeat me of course!"

"Very well. I'll take care of you myself then!" Neptune got her sword ready.

"Ha! You really think you can beat me without your memory? Very well! Come at me!" Black Heart summoned a large black one handed sword with a blue blade. Neptune and Black Heart clashed multiple times, flying through the air. With each clash a shock wave blasted throughout the air around them.

"Don't you think we should help her?" Iffy said. Iffy, Compa and I were standing on the ground watching the whole fight go down.

"I doubt we can even..."

"Arc! Watch out!" Neptune yelled as she threw Black Heart towards me. When I looked around me, Iffy and Compa were missing. _What great friends you guys are!_

"Why the hell are you throwing her to me?!" It was too late, Black Heart slammed into me, knocking the wind out of me. The force slammed me into the side of the mountain. "Dammit Neptune." Black Heart was back where I stood and slowly started to get back up. _Might as well fight her though._ Her sword was right next to me, leaving her unarmed. "Okay..."

"Hey, you! Give me my weapon."

"Why should I?" I stood up with the sword in my hands. It felt incredibly heavy, to hold it I had to grab it with both of my hands. "Yeah, here you go. This is way too heavy" I threw the sword onto the ground and she immediately took it. She was about to launch into the air until I grabbed her shoulder.

"What the hell are you..."

"I never said I'd let you go, though." I clenched my fist and a white aura formed around it. When it finished I thrust it to the side of her stomach, probably hitting her kidney. " _ **Earth Shatter**_ " when I punched her, she flew down the direction that we came. Afterwards I heard a thud and saw a small pillar of light come from that direction. Sort of like when Neptune returns to normal. "Man, I'm beat."

"Two victories in a row. Nice job, partner." Iffy, Compa and a now normal Neptune had walked over to me again.

"Well, I sure am awesome, aren't I?"

"Eh, that's debatable." Neptune said as she started to walk past me. "But still, nice one." Giving me a thumbs up.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just check up on Black Heart. She flew over there." I began to walk over to the area where she landed, but instead of Black Heart, was a girl with black hair in twin tails wearing a white and red dress that had a strange black coat looking thing that props up her...assets, again. Her dress came along with black detached sleeves with white frills. She also wore well as a black choker with a blue ribbon at the end of it. _I just noticed something... a ton of these girls have detached sleeves. That's a bit weird._

"Hey! Are you alright missy?!" Compa ran past me to the girl. That's when I noticed that she was covered in cuts and bruises. _She must be the normal version of Black Heart._

"Hey Compa, I think..."

"Hey! Get off of me!" The girl said as Compa jumped onto her, forcing her down onto the ground.

"Absolutely not! You're hurt and I need to take care of you!" Compa took out a ball of bandages and started treating the girl. Neptune and Iffy finally caught up with us. _She's a regular ass Black Jack._

"You know, I think she enjoys this a bit too much..." Neptune said as she took out a cup of pudding from seemingly nowhere. After a couple minutes of watching Compa do things to this woman, she finally got off of her.

"All done!"

"Yeah, thanks for violating me!" The girl was now covered head to toe in bandages.

"Sorry, are you alright ma'am?" I walked up to her and offered a Nep Bull. She gladly took it and began downing the bottle. "Now what are you doing here?" _Might as well get her to admit being Black Heart._

"I uh...Can't remember! Yeah! That's it!" _You've got to be kidding me? It's going in this direction now?_

"Wow! Really? Another amnesiac!? This is great! Arcy, lets..."

"Sure fine, whatever. I'm too tired to even deal with this." I began to walk out of the dungeon and Compa, Neptune and the new girl stayed behind and Iffy started walking out with me. "You sure you want to come with me? That situation seems like more fun."

"Nahh. I'm not really into whatever kind of bull Lady Black Heart has to say." I looked over at her. "I'm not stupid, there is no way in hell a random girl just 'happened' to show up with 'amnesia'."

"You sure are something aren't you?" Her face flushed a bit at this. "You okay? You're face was really red before to. You might be catching a cold." I began to walk up to her but she instantly jumped back.

"I-I'm good! I'm just tired is all." She regained her composer and walked back up to me. "Let's go."

"Alright." _I hope she doesn't catch a cold. She always seems get flushed. It could be that she ...nah._

* * *

Compa. Neptune and Noire (Neptune yelled me her name when I asked) met up with Iffy and I in front of the hotel that Chian recommended us. We had got a room with five beds. One for each of us since Noire had decided to join us cuz she's totally not Black Heart or anything. "Alright, night guys." I plopped myself onto the bed, face first. _It's been so long since I slept on a bed...so comfy!_

"What do you think you're doing?" Noire walked up to me, looking pissed.

"Going to sleep. I'm exhausted."

"Do you really think that I'll just let you, the only male, sleep in a room full of beautiful young ladies. Such as myself." _Please, be more modest, why don't you._

"I don't see an issue here. I'm no perv."

"Who knows what you'll do to us while we're asleep?!"

"Absolutely nothing! Guys, back me up on this!"

"Well, I don't know if you can keep your urges down for so long." Neptune, amazingly helped.

"Urges?! What the hell do you think I am?!"

"Come on, you know you want my cute loli body!" Neptune said as she began to do a weird sexy dance.

"I'd rather die, actually."

"I have an idea." Iffy grabs me out of the bed and walked me to the front desk. "One bed room please." She says to the clerk. He hands Iffy a key. She grabs my hand again and brings me to the room, opens the door and shoves me inside. "See ya in the morning partner. Sorry." She closes the door gently after handing me the key.

"...what?" _Did Iffy just...ugh. I'm too tired to care anymore._ I let it go and dive onto the bed. _Sweet sleep._


	5. Chapter 5

"The world of Gamindustri now sure is full of shenanigans, huh?"

"It sure is. Now, what's up with the King?"

"Where was I? Oh, right. After two years of building up his rebellion, the King was able to get 25% of the world's population to join his army. However, he was able to get at least 75% of the country to believe in him. Little did he know, at the time this made the Goddess weaker due to a lack of shares. So weak in fact that even a normal human would be able to kill her."

"Wait...he killed her?"

"Of course. The King hated the Goddess with all of his heart. Especially after all of the fights he's been through because of her. After all, 25% of the world still believed in her. That happened to be the most powerful 25% of the world. They were the Goddess's generals and right hand men. She wasn't stupid, she knew that the King was a threat so, when the King's army was finally ready to go stage a coup, she sent her most powerful people to fight them."

"Sound's like Gil had a lot on his plate."

"Gil?"

"It's short for Gilgamesh. You know, the 'King of Kings' that was very popular in an anime. Something about fates...it's on the tip of my tongue."

"Hehe...Hahahaha!" The Goldman began to laugh hysterically. Not like a crazy man's laugh...but it's pretty close."Wow. King of Kings, huh. I guess Gilgamesh is a fitting name for him. Very well, I'll call him that until I feel like telling you his real name. "

"His name isn't Gilgamesh? I thought that's what the author was going for..."

"Nope. Something a bit different." The world grew darker. "Well then. Have a good day, Arcy."

"Not you too!"

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I saw a familiar thing. The sky. _That would be beautiful if the fact that_ _I'm pretty sure I fell asleep in a hotel room wasn't there._ I arched my head backwards and saw brown hair tied together in a green bow. "Iffy?"

"You're finally awake, Partner." She was playing with one of her phones at the time. I sit up and take a look at my surroundings. We seemed to be in another forest area that seemed a bit like Virtua Forest.

"Um, could you please tell me what's happening?" Iffy pockets her phone and looks straight at me. For some reason she flinched for a sec, then recomposed herself. But she wouldn't look directly at me anymore. "?"

"W-Well, while you were asleep we accepted a quest from Aviner."

"Hmm. Good choice. Keep your enemies close." Iffy looked at me in a surprised manner.

"And here I was, worried that you'd overreact."

"I'm smarter than I look, Iffy."

"I'm sure you are, Mr. System Works. Anyway, we've been tasked with getting rid of a monster that's getting in the way of Aviner's business. Compa, Nep and Noire went on ahead. I decided to stay with you until you woke up."

I nod. "Okay, that doesn't explain why you guys didn't wake me up in the first place."

"We tried but you refused to wake up. You didn't even react when Nep punched you in the face." _That idiot..._

"Remind me to return the favor later." I stood up and stretched. "Well, I guess we should head after them. Make sure they don't get themselves killed." I stretched out my hand over to Iffy to help her get up.

"I-I'm good. Don't worry." Iffy stood up on her own, dusting herself off. "Let's get going! Come on, partner." As we walked through the dungeon I couldn't help but be surprised at the fact that there were monsters that looked like panels from dating sims and pipe monsters from that Maryo game. _This is why I always run away from monsters. This is way creepier than it needs to be._ We finally reached the end of the dungeon to see Neptune, Compa and totally not Black Heart having a picnic. "What are you guys doing?"

"Ah! Arcy, Iffy! You guys are so late, we already beat the big bad monster up. Not that Arcy would have been much help."

"Good morning to you to Neptune. You're idiotic even this early."

"It's two o'clock." _Ah, fuck._ She then looks me over and then Iffy. "And why are you two so late? Were you guys _doing the deed?_ "

"Absolutely not!" Iffy yells at the top of her lungs. _You know just how to hurt me Iffy._

"Whatever. Let's get back to Chian's and report. Arc, give me a ride!"

"You've got legs, use em." I took a sandwich from the picnic basket and took a bite. "Egh. Tomatoes."

"You're so cruel to me, Arc!" Neptune stands up and runs out of the dungeon. "I'll get you yet!" _I thought you were tired. She just oozes energy, doesn't she?_

"Let's get out of here, I need some breakfast that doesn't include disgusting tomatoes."

"Tomatoes are good for you, Arc. No wonder you're so weak."

"Thanks for the words of confidence. Tsundere Princess." Noire clammed up at this comment.

"D-Don't call me a tsundere!"

"Whatever. Partner, you up for a little lunch date?" I turned my attention to Iffy.

"D-D-Date!? W-What are you talking about?"

"Isn't that what girls call hanging out with guys? I don't really know all that much about girly lingo."

"Arcy, a date is when a girl and a boy who really like each other spend time together." Compa corrected.

"Oh, makes sense.'

"So of course Iffy would go with you. She'd love to!"

"Compa! W-What the hell do you think you're saying?!"

"Hehe. You're so cute when you're embarrassed, Iffy. I mean, don't you lo..."

"S-Shut up!" Iffy's face was bright red. Like those tomatoes that I hate. "Ugh! You guys are so...ugh! Dammit Compa!" Iffy stormed out of the dungeon.

"Did I do something wrong?" Compa asked.

"How should I know? Maybe I shouldn't have asked her to lunch."

"You two are both idiots." Noire sighed out as she shook her head.

 _ **Two hours later**_

"Ahh, I love a good burger. Don't you guys?" I ended up going to lunch with Compa and Noire. We couldn't find Iffy or Neptune after they left. We were walking back to Chian's place.

"It was really good, thanks Arcy!"

"Eh, it was alright. Could've been better."

"Hmm." As we were right out the door Compa stopped for a second.

"What's up Comps?"

"I wonder why Iffy ran away. I mean, she is in..."

"AHHHHHHHH! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" Iffy barged through the door and covered Compa's mouth.

"Woah! You sure are great at yelling, aren't ya Iffy." Neptune walked out, eating a pudding cup.

"Shut it Nep!" She motioned to Compa to stay quiet then recomposed herself. "A-Anyway, we got a new job. Tomorrow we'll met at an old factory. Be ready. And you!" Iffy turned her attention to me. "Don't you dare fall asleep and...I-I'm sorry about running away. It's just..."

"Don't worry about it Iffy, it's my fault for putting you on the spot. I should've known that you'd hate going on a date with me. It's not like you have feelings for me right?"

"Uh..."

"Oh, Arcy. You really are an idiot." Neptune said as she placed her garbage on top of my head.

"Who're you calling an idiot?! Idiot!"

"You, idiot!"

"Would you two shut up?!" Noire yelled. "We've got a mission to do soon so get ready." Noire grabbed Neptune and dragged her off to town. "We're gonna go stock up on items. You guys get your equipment ready."

"Arcy, don't hit on these young innocent girls!" Neptune yelled. Her voice getting farther and farther away.

"I won't, idiot."

"*sigh*. Let's just head back to the hotel." Iffy began to take the lead till Compa stopped her.

"Wait, I've gotta do something for . So you two go on a head. Ok?" Compa didn't even wait for a response before she ran into the factory.

"Compa, wait! Don't leave me..." Compa disappeared and it was just Iffy and I.

"Hey, Iffy? Do you hate me or something?" _I mean, she's been avoiding me a lot._

"What?! No! The exact opposite!"

"The opposite? So you love me?"

"W-Well, not the way that you're thinking! More like...a brother! Yeah!"

"Oh! That makes sense! Well, I love you like a sister too! No romantic feelings at all. That'd make this whole journey awkward. Yea!"

"Yeah...no romantic feelings at all." Her voice sounded sad for second then deadpanned for the rest of the way back to the hotel. _Did I piss her off?_

"Iffy?" She ignores me and keeps walking. _Yup._

* * *

 _ **A**_ _**day later**_

All five of us were following Ganache to an abandoned factory. Ganache worked for Avenier and looked the part. He was an admittedly handsome guy who had well hept brown hair. He wore a designer brown suit over a white button up and a blue tie. Everything about him screamed evil. But you can't judge a book by it's cover! "So, Ganache. What's this mission you have for us?" Iffy was asking what we were all thinking.

"Well, I need you all to find a certain item in this factory."

"And what would you want with this place?"

"This used to be one of our own factories until it got overrun with monsters. No one died, however they left a lot of items that we really need. Our personal hard drives."

"Why don't you just remake them? You do have the manpower."

"These hard drives are special because they are made from a very expensive material to make sure that they last at least 200 years. We don't have the money to remake them."

"Hold on a sec! Did you just say 200 years?! Holy Marconi! Can we get one?!" Neptune yelled. Running up to Ganache.

"Absolutely not, Neptune! We don't have time for that kind of shit. Saving the world, remember?!" I bop Neptune on the head and she recoils. Grabbing her head and sticking her tongue out at me.

"You don't have to be so mean, idiot!"

"Look who's talking."

"No, you..."

"Hahaha! You seem to be quite the entertaining group. You know what, for entertaining me in this stressful situation I'll let you have one. But don't sell it."

"Yay! See, I told you he would give us one Arcy!"

"You got lucky, Neptune." We finally reach the entrance of the factory. "Okay, where..." After we entered the factory the doors shut. "What?!" _Why didn't I see this coming? The cover was right!_

"Oh, yeah. Did I forget to mention? I was lying!" Ganache yelled from the other side of the door. "So do me a favor and die, okay?"

"Why the hell are you doing this?!" Noire yelled. Rage and worry covering her face.

"Do you think I'm stupid? Why would a group of 'mercenaries' that just got into town take any jobs from Aviner? It's obvious that you all are working for Black Heart."

"Well, maybe we took the quests because they were from a familiar name?! Who in Gamindustri doesn't know what's Aviner?!" I retorted.

"Didn't you not know who they were until a couple days ago, partner?" Iffy whispered.

"C'mon Iffy. Just let me have this."

"Umm..." Ganache seemed surprised. _He Actually didn't think of that?! How stupid could he be?!_ "It doesn't matter. You guys would have just gotten in the way. Goodbye." We heard Ganache walk away. _Dammit. We're dead._

"Dammit!" Noire slammed her fist into the door. "I'm gonna kill that bastard! Getting bystanders into this..." _A couple of days ago you tried to kill us...sorta your fault. But..._

"I think we've danced this dance long enough. Noire, just tell us what's going on and why Aviner has such a problem with you." Noire turned to me and was about to yell until I cut her off. "Listen Noire. I wanna help you, and I can't help you if you don't tell me. I want to make sure that Lastation gets better as well. Especially since it has such a nice and caring CPU like you." I put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down but she seemed to get even angrier cuz she her face turned beet red.

"W-Whatever. It's not like I'm happy you said that or anything!" Noire walked off a bit and took some deep breaths. "I'll explain everything when we get out of here. Okay?"

"Alright, Noire. Till then, let's find a way out of here! Someone has to save Lastation."

"You're finally speaking my language, Arcy! It's clobbering time!" Neptune yelled, running straight into a crowd of monsters.

"Let's go!" Two hours later, I collapsed onto the ground. "I think I'm gonna die..."

"*sigh* To think you were the guy who beat me..." Noire bent down near me and patted my head. "I guess it's time to take a break anyway." She sat leaning against the wall, patting my head every now and then. _Why's she doing that? Oh well. It is sorta relaxing._

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Iffy said in a terse tone that I've never heard from her.

"N-Nothing! I simply thought that if he relaxed, he'd gain his energy back faster!"

"Oh, that isn't what it looks like to me. It'd be better if he just ingested a Nep bull." Iffy pulled out one and stuffed it into my mouth. "Now drink." _Can't breath!_

After almost dying from what was supposed to a break, we continued our way into the factory until...

"Found it!" Neptune yelled. She held up an enemy disc that was in front of the exit. "Iffy got to break it last time so it's my turn!" _This is the second time that we've run into one of these. It also seems like Aviner put this in here specifically to kill us. Who is making these? And why am I the only one in this group who cares about this?_

"Neptune, just break it! We don't have time for a gigantic enemy to be..." Immediately a blue robot appeared out of the disc. "Spawned."

"Woops. Well..." A pillar of light erupted around Neptune. When it disappeared, Nep (I'm calling transformed Neptune Nep because she's at least tolerable like this.) was there. "We should dispose of it quickly. Arcy, stay to the side, we don't know what'll happen when we leave so we may need you later."

"Yeah, yeah. Got it." I leaned against the wall and watched the mini-boss battle. When it was destroyed I walked back to Neptune stomping on the enemy disc. "Alright! Let's get out of here!"

"It's time to save Lastasion. Right Noire?" I patted her back playfully. Her face turns red before she turns to me.

"You don't have to tell me twice." She ran out the factory and we followed suit.


	6. Chapter 6

"Well, I'm surprised to see you all here and alive." Ganache said with a smug ass smile as we finally caught up with him outside of Chian's now destroyed factory. Behind him was a giant red floating machine that wielded two axes.

"You bastard! How dare you bring innocent civilians into this?!" Noire unsheathed her rapier and got into a ready stance. She had a point to. The entire town was in shambles.

"Oh, how sweet. You actually seemed distressed. Why? The citizens no longer care about you, Lady Black Heart."

"And who's fault is that?!" Noire visibly got angrier.

"Yours. You were away for too long. You should just blame yourself." _So all the CPUs just got back? What exactly is going on?_

"..."

"You're weak now, and with that Chian girl gone now, nothing will stop Aviner to gain control off all of Lastation! Gahahaha!"

"..."

"What? Got nothing to say against my logic?"

"So what? Who cares about power and control? I don't care what you say, I'm gonna fight for those who believe in me." Noire looks back at us and I give her a thumbs up.

"Can I speak now? All this seriousness isn't exactly my style." Neptune speaks up.

"God dammit! Neptune, could you just shut up for five minutes?!"

"But Arcy! I'm at my limit. I need to talk to breath, you know? And all of this dialogue is getting boring."

"Neptune... I promise, I'll destroy all of your pudding if you don't shut up. That's a promise."

"F-Fine! I promise I'll kept my mouth shut!"

"I can hear everything!" Noire yells.

"Sorry, Noire."

"It doesn't matter! You guys already destroyed the mood!"

"Alright. To make up for it, I'll destroy all of Neptune's Pudding. K?"

"My pudding! Nooooooooooooo!"

"We're finally at the climax of the second arc. Would you two just be quiet?!" Noire seemed to actually get mad at us.

"Hehe, that's his name."

"Neptune!" Everyone in the group yelled.

"Are you all done now? I'm a busy person, you know." Ganache spoke up again. _Wow, the second villain to let us do stupid shit. Very respectful._

"Let me save you time then by sending that weapon behind you to the junk heap!" Noire said getting ready again.

"Nep-Nep. Transform!" Compa commands.

"Transform!" A pillar of light forms around Neptune and her transformed form comes out. "Ganache, you went too far. Feel the pain Chian and her people have endured!"

"T-That form...but, why are you here?!" He then turns his attention to Noire. "You're supposed to be her enemy! Why?!"

"For does who believe in me, I'll do anything for them. Anything!" Noire threw one of her hands into the air "Access!" A pillar of light surrounded Noire and out came Black Heart.

"Noire?! But that form?!" Neptune exclaimed.

"Are you really that stupid, Neptune? We've all known this for a long time."

"Arcy...you can be so harsh."

"Let us save this bantar for later. First we must destroy this contraption!"

"I'd like to see you try. Destroy them Killachine!" Ganache said before he hid somewhere. _Killachine? That's probably the most generic name I've ever heard in my entire life._ After Ganache hid the machine started and somehow roared.

"Arc, IF, Compa. Backup Neptune and myself." Black Heart yelled as she flew towards the Killachine. The robot swings its Axe at a wide arc attempting to bash Black Heart, however she easily dodged the attack and stabbed it in the eye. The robot recoiled back and Purple heart took the opportunity to slash at its arm in an attempt to disarm it. Her sword only bounced off of the arm.

"It has stronger armor around it's body! It's seems like the face is it's weak spot." Purple heart yelled the obvious.

"Iffy, circle around the back of the Killacine. When it's off guard climb it and hit it with a Demon flame right to the face!" I say to her, observing the battle field. She nods and runs off.

"What about me, Arcy?" Compa speaks up. Holding her syringe with a puppy dog face that does not fit the creepy-ness I feel from that weapon.

"Stay near Neptune and Noire but not to close. Your attack power and defense isn't really suited for this fight. Sorry."

"Okay...I'll also stick near you. You might die without me you know." _It hurts but it's true._

"That's...a good idea. I'm gonna go try and assist Neptune and Noire. K?"

"Okydoky!" I ran up to the machine. It barely noticed me, seemingly only concerned with Noire and Neptune. I stabbed _Blood-Sucker_ into a small gap that was in the middle of it's tail. It somehow roared, although I doubt it has lungs, it swung its tail into me slamming me against the wall.

"Guh! That hurt." It slowly starting floating over to me. _You kidding me?! I agroed it?!_ It then swung its axe at me. I attempted to lift Blood-Sucker to block but my arm ended up being dislodged. "Am I dead now?" I closed my eyes in fear but nothing happened. I looked up and saw Noire holding up the axe.

"I-Idiot. Move! I can't hold this anymore." She really was struggling, she was shaking. I moved out of the way and pull her with me. _I won't be able to do shit with this arm...I knew I'd just be useless!_ "I'll agro it away. You go get help from Compa." She immediately flew towards the monster and slashed at it's face, the flying away. _There has to be something I can do...think dammit!_ I observed as Neptune, Noire, Iffy and even Compa were fighting. That's when I noticed something. There were tons of small gaps in between the monster's joints. _If I can only somehow cram it with something...wait my projections. Dumbass._

I ran against the wall and got behind the monster. I then projected bloodsucker and stabbed it into the ground and created four more. I then attached everyone to my back. "Now or never, Arcy." I forcefully put my arm back in its socket and fuck did that hurt! Trying to ignore the pain I grabbed two Blood-Suckers and ran towards the monster. I logged one sword into the gap between its tail and body then one between its left arm and body. By then it noticed me and swung it's right arm at me, but it ended up only destroying it's left arm with the axe. _Totally according to plan!_

"Neptune Break!" Neptune's sword suddenly glowed and she started bolting around the room, slicing and dicing the Killachine. _Awesome! I wish I could do that._ She then stood in front of it and it EXPLODED! She transformed back and took out a pudding cup. "That was easier than I thought."

"Yeah right! I dislocated my arm!" I ran up to her and bopped her on the head.

"Ow! It's cuz you're a dummy!"

"Whatt?!"

"Guys!" Noire yelled. We both turned to attention. "Ganache's gone. Bastard ran away."

"Don't worry, Noire. We'll get him next time." I reassured her. "By the way, thank you for saving me."

'I-It's nothing." She then looks at Neptune. "Did you really lose your memory Neptune?"

"Yup! My head's as empty as it could be!"

"I guess I could help you a bit then. Neptune, you are the CPU of Planeptune."

"WAIT WHATTTTTT?!" All of us yelled.

"In retrospect I should have suspected this though." I add. "After all, Neptune can transform all the while the CPU of Planeptune is 'mysteriously gone' while the other 3 goddesses are in their respective kingdoms. Damn, I'm stupid."

"That's what I've been telling you Arcy!"

"God dammit Neptune."

"So. What do we do now?" Iffy said. She had a point. We couldn't find the fragment, Lastation's main city is in shambles and Ganache got away. Not to mention we now know that Neptune is the missing CPU of Planeptune and she still has no memories.

"You three head back to Planeptune. I've got this." Noire began to walk away.

"Are you sure Noire? I mean, no offense, but most of lastation still believes in Ganache and his crew. I'll be glad to help." I say as Iffy strangely glares at me.

"No. I appreciate the offer. I really do. But I have to regain the trust of the citizens on my own." She turns around and smiles at us. "But be sure to come back when everything's better though."

"You bet we will! After all, we promised Chian that we'd come to her competition!" _Shit! Chian! Is she ok?_ I turn around to look for her...and she was standing next to Neptune.

"Really? That means a lot Neptune." _How? What? Why? When?_

"C-Chian? When'd you get here? Is everyone ok?"

"Oh, yeah. We all went out for dinner about ten minutes before that Ganache douche got here."

"Good to know! But what happened to your research?"

"I always carry it around with me. See?" She lifted a suitcase that I hadn't realized she was always carrying. _Since when was I this dense?_

"Miss Chian." Noire spoke up, albeit shyly.. "If you need anything I would be glad to help." She had a small blush. I guess she wasn't used to talking to her own citizens.

"Nah, it's ok miss. I won't give up this easily. I will talk to lady Black Heart." Noire's blush grew an even deeper shade of red.

"I-I-I-I..."

"She may have been gone for a while, but she at least understands us more than Avanir does." Chian takes one last look around the destroyed factory. "*sigh* I'll be going now. No need to hang around this place, it'll just make me sad. Thank you guys though. I got to go and start our recuperation. Hope to see you guys again!" Chian ran towards the city, still leaving me confused.

"Welp, We did our job! We saved Lastation!" Neptune yelled happily.

"No we didn't...hell it's worse than when we got here." I retort, albeit silently. I'm to tired to even argue with Neptune. "We should really get going though. My arm hurts like hell and I can hear Compa's couch calling to me."

"And I'm hungry!" Neptune cries out.

"We'll be back to help you soon Noire. But we first have figure out other stuff. Like where are these so called Fragments." Iffy says, being the leader of the group that she it. She leads us all to the train station that was conveniently just out of town. I look back one last time and catch a glimpse of Noire waving to us. _See ya soon_ is what I can gleam from it.

* * *

I ended up falling asleep on the train ride to Planeptune and I had come to regret it. Apparently on the ride home, Neptune, Compa and Iffy had decided that we were going to Leanbox. Without telling me, of course. After we got back, they told me that we were going to leave for Leanbox in 3 days! That's too much for a young man like me. At the moment, I am sitting inside of the Guild of Planeptune trying to figure out how to revive my zombie of a bank account. After all, Leanbox is located on an island to the south east of Planeptune and a ticket to Leanbox is not cheap, especially with the increased tax due to the war. Leanbox is the only country that is difficult to go to as, for some reason, they always overprice everything, being the only country that requires you to buy a ticket to even go there. It is theorized that it is because they are the only country not physically connected to the continent but no one really knows. "*sigh* I really need a break." I turned in the few quests that I had been able to conveniently defeat while in Lastasion and got rid of the rest. Then grabbing some for Leanbox.

I walk out the guild with my bank account now on life support. _I don't have enough cash to buy a burger. Let alone get 4 people to Leanbox._ Slowly dying inside I began walking back to Compa's apartment when I bumped into someone. "S-Sorry!" It turned out to be a girl with light blue hair wearing a white witches costume. Hat and everything. The only unique thing was the red tie that she wore with the costume.

"It is quite alright, sir. Do not worry thyself for it was my fault for not looking where my feet took me." _wat._

"No, I was not looking where I was going as well. Sorry." I was about to walk away when she took out a long cane and pulled me back by my arm.

"Hold it right there. You are not with the Organization, are you?"

"Organization? What organization?" She looked into my eyes and it made me a feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Hmmm. You do not seem to be lying. What is thy name?"

"Arc. Arc S.W. Why do you-"

"Arc! My name is MAGES. and I am looking for a certain object. Please tell me if you had seen it. For it may change the entire fabric of the world!"

 _I'm getting a headache from all your damn screaming._ "What kind of object would this be Mages?"

"My name isn't Mages. It's MAGES.."

"That's what I said. Mages."

"No, you are not capitalizing it, nor are you adding the period at the end of it. Now, say it with me. MAGES.." _I'm sorry, what?_

"*sigh* MAGES.."

"Wonderful. " _I want to die._

"Please tell me, what are you looking for Ma- I mean MAGES.." _It sounds the fucking same why the fuck would it make a difference?!_

"I am looking for the magical drink known as... ." _A soda._

"It's sold in Lastsation...you can find it there." _Now please leave me alone._

"Ah! I see! Perfect! I thank you for your help. I will take my leave now. But not before bribing you to keep our conversation on the down low. Goodbye!" Before MAGES. runs away, she hands me an envelope. _If you don't want people to hear you then don't yell. And don't have a conversation the the middle of the street._ Shaking my head I look down at the heavy envelope in my hand.

"This better not be a bomb or something." I open it to find...a countless amount of credits. Probably a million by the weight. _WHAT. WHAT THE FUCK._ Why in the world that girl would give me this amount of money for information about a can of soda. I will never know. But I do know that I can afford those tickets to Leanbox! And then some.


	7. Chapter 7

_**AN: Hello! Here is the New batch of chapters. Plz enjoy and review. Every Review is appreciated.**_

* * *

"The first time I was in Leanbox I was about 10 years old. I don't know how or why but I had washed up on one of Leanbox's beaches without any memory. With nothing but the raggy clothes that I had on me and my name. I still have no idea why I was there or have any of my memories before that point. But to be honest I couldn't care less. When I woke up, I simply got up and headed to get food. When I couldn't pay I decided to become an adventurer. Right there, same day, same hour. Without memories. I was a stupid kid, but that was the beginning of my journey."

"How interesting. To think that you would start for such a mediocre reason." Was what the gold man had said to me. I was back in the dream and had just finished telling him my beginnings, through his request.

"Screw you." I said under my breath. "Why did you even want to know that anyway?"

"I was simply curious. But that does remind me of someone. A person who the King held very dear to him, his best friend. He, like you, showed up without any memory nor money. But he was quite carefree. Like you."

"I'm not exactly carefree. If I was, I'd be like Neptune."

"You like her, do you not?" His voice raising, as if excited by gossip.

"No. I don't have any other feeling for her than friendship. Sorry buddy." The man's silhouette deflates, disappointed.

"Tch. And here I thought I guessed right." _Give me a break._

"So Gil's friend. What happened to him?"

"He died of course. He did live over thousands of years ago" The man sighed, as if remembering it hurt him. "He was quite the guy." He then mumbled something under his breath that I couldn't hear.

"Hey, Go-" The world grew dark once more.

"I'll see you later, Alligator." He tried to seem happy-go-lucky but I could tell he was sad.

* * *

I awoke to the soft and lovely aroma of my favorite breakfast option in the world. "P-Pancakes?"

I shot up from the couch and ran to the kitchen to see Compa flipping a pancake, Neptune stuffing a cup of yellow pudding down her throat and Iffy enjoying a nice cup of coffee.

"Good morning Arcy!" Compa was the first one to notice me, even though she had her back to me. "Would you like some pancakes?"

"They were delish!" Neptune said, mouth full of pudding.

"Don't talk with your mouth full. And I would love some pancakes Compa, thanks." I move and sit across from Iffy. "G'morning Iffy."

"Morning." She took another sip of her coffee before looking at me. "Are you ready to go to Leanbox today?"

"*Sigh* yea. I'm not looking forward to it though." _I'm gonna lose the cash so soon. Dammit!_ Compa places a plate with a stack of 3 pancakes with syrup dripped on it. "This looks delicious. Thanks Compa."

"No problem! I hope you enjoy it." She then walks to her own room, probably to get ready for the trip. I take a bite and fall in love, immediately chowing down and forgetting everything that was just going on.

"I can die happy now." I say after finishing the pancakes in record time. "What were we talking about?"

"You need to calm down, holy shit dude." Iffy takes a deep breath before speaking again. "I was gonna say that we are gonna be leaving in about three hours. We've got a lot of searching to do."

"Ok. I'll go change then and probably have a quick nap." _I never get proper rest after those dreams._

"Hold on." Iffy says as she steps in front of me. "When we get to Leanbox what exactly do you think we should do?" _They didn't even plan did they._

"Well, I think they we should ask the goddess if they know where the key fragment. I've heard some rumors that their goddess is pretty nice."

"Hmmm." Iffy thought it over. "Fine. But the same thing as last time better not happen again."

"You mean the Basilicom people? Nah, I visited Leanbox's and it's run by this cool old man. It'll be fine."

"Y-Yeah. That's what I meant. I'mma go get ready." Iffy left to the girls room, following Compa.

"Might as well get ready myself." I walk to the couch and grab...nothing. I have no belongings. _I forgot..._ The night before I had slept in my normal clothes cuz Neptune HAD to wear the pajamas I was borrowing for some reason. _I need to get my own place._ I lay down on the couch and turn on the TV that was in front of it. What came on was some trashy reality TV show. _I've got three hours to kill anyway._

 _ **3 hours Later**_

"How could he do that to her?! They were in love!" The show ended up being more interesting than I thought. "Dammit Johnny!"

"Umm. Arcy?" Neptune said from the doorway.

"H-Huh?" I wipe the tears off of my face and get myself together. "Y-Yo. Whats up?"

"We're ready now. Are you ok?" I get up from the couch, set the DVR and turn off the TV.

"Not really. Johnny just-"

"I don't care. Let's go." _How mean!_ I walked into to the kitchen and everyone was there, ready to go. "Ready?"

"Yup. Let's go to Leanbox." After another visit to the creepy receptionist again and wasting 40,000 credits on tickets we were able to board the boat to Leanbox. It was an impressively luxury boat, hell it was basically a yacht. It was literally us four and the crew who did nothing but play games on their phone. "Arcy! I'm bored. Give me another piggy back!"

"No." I outright say. I walk over to a bench near the entrance and sit down. "*sigh* Two more hours of waiting." I begin to nod off as I see Neptune begin to run around the ship.

* * *

After being woken up by Iffy before Neptune tried to punch me, we ended up on the shores of Leanbox. "So I guess our first stop is the Basilicom of Leanbox. Right?" I asked Iffy as Compa was tending the bump that Neptune gained brought to impart by me.

"That would be our best option..." Iffy puts her hand to her chin, before continuing. "However I think I should be the one to talk to her if we can get it contact."

"Huh, How come? I've always wanted to meet all the goddesses!"

"Well, you already met two."

"Neptune sucks though." The fact that Neptune is the CPU of Planeptune is something that I still can't believe. How could this energetic, wild and to be honest, stupid girl become the goddess of one of the four nations of this world. Granted she does have this aura around her that makes you want to be friends but she is kind of annoying. Plus she has Amnesia so there is no way she can rule a nation right now. Maybe she was better before she lost her memory. Although I highly doubt it.

"Hey! That is a very rude to say about your friend Arcy!" Neptune suddenly appeared behind me. She wrapped her arms around my neck. While I expected her to turn it into a weird flirting situation. She, did the opposite. "Time for revenge!"

"Ugh!" She pressed her arms onto my neck and started choking me. I instantly tapped as her tiny arms had way more strength in them than I expected. _A-Am I going to die?!_

"Neptune! Get off of him!" Iffy yelled at her. Neptune pouted and let go of me, prompting to look at the ground. Leaving to to catch my breath for a couple of seconds.

"What the hell, Neptune?! You know I can't take that kind of punishment!" Neptune looked up and me and flinched. For the first time ever, she actually showed a face of remorse.

"I'm sorry..." She began to walk forward to the city, leaving us all behind.

"Now that's something that I didn't expect. No witty comeback?" Iffy then pointed at her neck, giving me a sign to look down. I did and saw that my chest and neck were red. _I guess that's what made her feel guilty. I didn't think that emotion was possible for her._ "Whatever." I rubbed my neck and the redness almost immediately went away. _Now I feel bad. Dammit._

* * *

After catching up to Neptune, who stayed pretty quiet for a while, we made our way to Leanbox's main city. It was pretty similar to Planeptune's city as it was a modern city with many large buildings, but instead of a purple motifs everything was green and white. Which was always gonna be pretty confusing to me, I don't know why but the color green always made me feel weird.

We were soon facing the basilicom of Leanbox and it is the strangest one in my opinion. It was a giant square shaped building with a giant hole in the middle, of course decorated with green lights that contrasted with the white of the building. although it looked strange from the outside it was very spacious and interesting inside. It was more gracefully decorated inside than any of the other Basilicoms I'd been to. Although I've never been inside of the one in Lowee. It was decorated with lovely trees that gave off a sweet aroma, chandlers, even posters of Leanbox's most famous actors and musicians. I walked up the the man behind the desk who, unlike the other receptionists was a man who looked to be in his eighties. He wore black and green robes that drape over him, making his body type almost impossible to determine. He wore his age on his face, literally. He had the stereotypical long white hair with a white mustache and short white beard.

"Hey, old man! It's been a while!" I say as I walk up to him. Plopping my arms onto his desk.

"*Sigh* I see you are back, Arc. And for the last time, my name is Yvoire." The old man who's name I just remembered said. He looked behind me and waved at the girls behind me. "I see that you have some companions with you. A lot has changed in a year, I see."

"I guess you could say that." Although he and I barely talk, he is one of the few friends I actually have in Gamindustri. Hell, he was the only one I had for a while. "Anyway, we'd like an audience with the CPU. You could set that up, right?" Yvoire cringes a bit as he started typing something on the computer in front of him.

"I'm sorry. But meeting time with the CPU has ended for the day."

"But it's only five!" I plead.

"Lady Green Heart requires a lot of time in order to deal with the nation. I'm sorry, but I will contact you tomorrow if you wish." I lower my head and hit it against the table. Yvoire takes a deep breath and sighs. "You know that I would try my best to assist you in anything that you need but rules are rules."

"Huh. Well at least I feel a bit better now." I stand up straight and begin to walk out. "Well, thanks Yvoire. Don't forget to call me."

"Hold on!" Neptune suddenly yells. _Whoa! Didn't expect that!_ " do you know anything about a key fragment?"

"How did you get that out of my name?! My name is Yvoire."

"Neptune, respect your elders. Yvoire has a lot on his plate."

"Yeah, Yeah, System Works. Stay in the background as the adults talk about the important things." She says with a big stupid smile on her face. _So she just needed some time to recover. Well, she's better this way._

"That was a dirty trick. Bringing my name into this." She stuck her tongue out at me and turned back around to Yvoire.

"It'd be great if you knew anything about it " Compa says as she walks up with Neptune.

"Is my name being ignored?" Yvoire said with a disappointed look on his face.

"It looks like this." Neptune pulled out a phone that I did not know she had and pulled a photo of the key fragment that I did not know she took. For the first time ever I got a good look at it. It was a giant key that had a purple body with a giant purple N, identical to the one Neptune had on her sweater, surrounded by a white circle on the keys head.

"I see..."

"So , You know anything?" Yvoire simply sighs at the butchering at his name and shakes his head.

"Seventy years of my life and I've never seen a key like that before." We all shut down. _Another dead end. Is Histoire destined to be trapped forever?_ "But the Lady may know. She had been around for hundreds of years after all."

"At least we may have a clue." I say as I put my hand to my chin. "But to think that Lady Green Heart is hundreds of years old. Does that mean she's an Old Ha-gh!"

"Ok. That's enough Partner." Iffy comments with the same irritated face I saw from the factory in Lastsation. She had her hand covering my mouth and signaled to me to shut up with her motioning her thumb along her throat.

"!" _Why?!_ Iffy takes her hand off of my mouth and turns to the door.

"Let's get out of here before little Arcy says anything that he'd regret." Iffy flashes a smile at me that screams nothing but death.

"Very well. I'd suggest that you all stay at the hotel that is located two blocks to east of here." Yvoire says as he walks to me and hands me a coupon. "This should help."

"Thanks Yvoire." I pocket the coupon. "We'll be back tomorrow. And thanks again. It was nice seeing you."

"Same here." He suddenly walks closer and whispers "So...which one is your love?"

"Jeez. Not one of em. What's with all these old Geezers trying to get into my love life?" Yvoire only laughs and walks back to his desk, signaling the end of the conversation. I turn around to see that my precious friends had already left me behind. "Great."

As I exited the building someone else was going in, causing me to bump into them softly. Both of us recoiled. "Sorry about that. You ok?" I was the first to speak up.

"No problem. It was my fault for not looking where I was going." The person I had ran into was a purple haired woman who wore a long black trench coat with a hood that she used to cover her face.

"O-Ok" When I responded she simply walked past me. _She seemed familiar. Oh whatever._ I run out the building, attempting to catch up the girls.

000

"*Sigh* This is the life." I was lying down on a beautiful king sized bed with a literal shit ton of pillows. After a bit of a tour on the city, we went to the hotel that Yvoire told us about.

"Arcy! You can't hog all the pillows!" Neptune yelled from across the room. She, Iffy and Compa were still having dinner at the table that we had ordered but I finished way earlier. Everyone had already changed into their own pajamas with Neptune wearing a purple shirt with pink dots and short pink pants. Iffy wore a standard black button up with black pants and Compa wore the same but pink...as did I.

"It's not like you're using them right now, right?"

"Grrr." We had gotten a single room for the four of us like last time. However there was no Noire here to kick me out so I save some cash! "That's it! I'm eating your-"

"I already ate my pudding."

"Nooooo!" Iffy simply sighed and Compa giggled.

"We should really get some rest guys, we have to go see Yvoire again tomorrow and we're gonna see Lady Green Heart. We have to look respectable." Iffy nagged.

"Hey Iffy, do you like Green Heart or something? I thought you didn't belong to any nation." I asked, causing Iffy to flinch and chug down the rest of her tea.

"I don't like her! I-I'm just a fan of her blog is all."

"The Goddess of Leanbox has a blog. That...*sigh*"

"She's a great writer!" _And Neptune isn't crazy._

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, who am I gonna end up bunking with?" The hotel did not have the option is giving us 4 beds so we were only able to get 2, meaning we'd have to share.

"I-I-I-I" Iffy started malfunctioning. All she was able to say was that.

"Is she ok? Compa, any idea?" Compa looked at Iffy and tried poking her.

"I don't know." Compa took out her giant syringe and attempted to stab her with it.

"Compa no!" Neptune grabbed the syringe and put it on the ground. "I think she'll be fine. Anyway, I'm bunking with ya! I need some pillows in my life!" Neptune jumps into the bed and almost hits me, luckily I dodge her.

"Fine. But you better not wake me up. Or punch me!" Neptune nods and grabs a pillow and starts fucking swinging it around with a giant smile on her face. "Yo!"

"I-I want to-" Iffy suddenly yells.

"Are you back with us, Iffy?" I ask. She looks at me, then Neptune and the Compa.

"Dammit." She hangs her head low and walks over to the bed on the other side of the room, and flopping down onto it.

"Don't worry Iffy. You'll get to sleep with him next time." Compa said reassuringly while going under the covers of her bed.

"C-Compa! What are you saying..."

"Hehe. G'night." Compa clapped her hands and the light in the room goes off.

"*Yawn* G'nighty." Neptune says, putting the pillow she held between her legs and yanks the covers over her and myself.

"*sigh* What a bunkmate. Good night guys." I put my head on a pillow sideways and end up making eye contact with Iffy. "Good Night Iffy. Don't let the bedbugs bite."

"G-Goodnight." I close my eyes and am immediately hit on the head with Neptune's arm, who begins to snore. _This is my life._

000

"Do do do do do. Di di do do" Was what I had heard come out of the gold man's mouth when I ended up in the dream world.

"What?"

"AH!" He yelled jumping out of his chair and for the first time allowing me to get a good idea of his height. The guy was definitely taller than me, he couldn't be any less that six feet tall. Yet I still had no idea what he was. I kept saying that he was a silhouette but I guess it's better to say that he was covered in a thick gold mist. I couldn't tell a thing about him but a rough guess of his build and his height. I couldn't tell how long his hair was, nor if he was even wearing clothes. That thought creeped me the fuck out. "Don't scare me like that Arcy! I almost pissed my pants!"

"So you do wear clothes."

"Of course I do!" The Gold man takes his seat and stretches. "You know, waiting for you all day is boring, so I sing and stuff."

"Good to know that you have such an interesting pastime." The gold man pouts and crosses his arms.

"It was a great hobby, that the king had. Although he never did let the public know about it." He said in a melancholy tone.

"Then how do you know about it?" The gold man flinched and cursed under his breath.

"I worked very close to the king." _I guess that explains why he knows so much about him._ "I was one of the first of his allies before he fought the Goddess. He was quite the guy." _Even though he said that he would tell me about the King's tale all he does is say vague shit._ "Oh I know a good story to tell you of the king!"

"Go ahead then."

"This takes place before the King had fought the goddess. He and his friends had been out recruiting some people to his army when he came across a lone Doggo. The Doggo seemed very strange to the king as it was a light purple color that was different from the normal blue, red or green that is common. The Doggo bounced up the king and jumped onto his face, startling him. He began to yell out, however instead of a scream, what came out was a beautiful high pitched voice. The Doggo jumped off of the king and seemingly feel in love with him, not wanting to stay away from him. The King was more interested in his new found talent and that was what had lead to his hobby."

"What happened to the Doggo?"

"It became the King's loyal pet. It was quite adorable." _Well, at least I got some detail. But man, that was not needed._

"Do do do do do do do do, di di do do do di di." He began to sing again. _This is gonna be a long night._


	8. Chapter 8

I awoke to a sleeping Neptune who was clinging onto me, and a seemingly angry Iffy who stood above the two of us. "Well good morning Iffy."

"..." No response. I put my hand of Neptune's face in an attempt to pull her off of me but her grip was too strong. _Damn goddess strength!_

"Iffy, could ya help?"

"..." Again, nothing.

"Neptune! Wake up!"

"Five more min..." She mumbled.

"NEPTUNE WAKE UP!" Iffy yelled, causing my ears to pop and Neptune to jump out of bed screaming.

"AHHHH!"

"AHHHH!" I joined her out of the fear of what happened to my ears.

"AHHHHHHH!" Compa suddenly yells from across the room.

"SHUT UP!"

 _ **45 minutes later**_

"God. Dammit." The four of us were at the cafe that was inside of the hotel, hoping to get some food. "What the fuck just happened?"

"I don't even know." Iffy said downing her third cup of coffee. After the screaming contest we all got headaches and didn't say a word until now.

"I want pudding." Neptune says in an uncharacteristically tired tone.

"Ugh..." Compa had her head on her plate of pancakes.

"What happened the the four of you?" Yvoire suddenly appeared in the cafe, stroking his beard.

"Ughhhh." We all respond in unison.

"My my. You all look like you've died." _I wish I did, Yvoire. I wish I did._

* * *

A couple hours later we were back in the Basilicom, however we were now not dying. "So, what's up?" Neptune was of course the first to speak. Yvoire only sighs in response of his continued name death.

"I regret to inform you that the Lady is not available at the moment." Yvoire said causing all of us to again lose all motivation. "However, she will be available later this evening."

"I thought that we wouldn't be able to see the Goddess after visiting hours." I asked, causing him to nod his head.

"That is correct but she will be free tonight, so I'd like to invite you all to dinner. For old times sake." He says as he pats me on the back.

"I guess..." _But we've never had dinner together._

"Yay! Dinner, dinner, chicken winner!" Neptune yells, hopping up and down with pure excitement.

"You've got it wrong, dummy." Iffy says with a smile on her face. _Well as long as everyone is happy with it._ I look towards Yvoire to see him with a sad frown, when he notices me looking at him he smiles.

"You ok, Yvoire?"

"Y-Yes. I'm only thinking of what I should cook for dinner." He claps his hands. "I'll call you when it is time for dinner." He then walks out of the lobby and down the hall.

"Alright I guess we should go check out the city then. I did see an arcade I wanted to check out."

"Hell yea Arcy! Leeeeets go!" Neptune ran out of the building with Compa following close behind. I began to walk out when I felt a tug on my sleeve.

"Arc. I got a text from Yvoire." Iffy said. She let go of my sleeve and crossed her arms. "He said that there was something that he wanted to speak to me about."

"Huh? When'd you get it?"

"I got it last night, before we went to bed. Look." She pulled out her pink cell phone from her belt, pressed a few buttons and showed me the text.

"Hello ,

There is something that I'd like to confirm with you. Please speak with me tomorrow after our meeting. Please only bring yourself and Arc. It is very important that it is only the two of you.

Sincerely, Yvoire." was the way that the text went. _That guy is way to formal._

"Hmm. That's weird. He would have just told me if there was something that he needed."

"Yeah, well I think that now would be the best chance to get this over with. You coming?"

"If he needs it." Iffy and I begin walking down the hallway that Yvoire walked down and eventually came across a door that had a sign on it saying 'Kitchen'. "This must be it." Entering it, we saw Yvoire chopping some onions. "Yo. What is it that you need?"

Yvoire stops chopping the onions and rinses his hands in the sink next to him. "I'm glad that you both came, I have something very important to ask the two of you." He dries his hands and walks up to us. "First of, Ms. IF."

"Hm?"

"Despite your faith in the lady, you are not a citizen of this Nation, are you?"

"What is it to you?" _You're way to defensive when it comes to Green Heart._

"In fact, you are not a citizen of any land, correct? Just like Arc."

"Hold on a sec." I interrupt Yvoire and Iffy's conversation. "You checked up on her, didn't you? What the hell are you trying to do Yvoire?"

"Calm down, Arc. I am not doing anything sinister." Yvoire got defensive and took a step back.

"Then why the hell did you check up on her?"

"Hm, this reminds me. I heard a rumor about this place. That the elder of Leanbox's basilicom only accepts local citizens." Iffy starts piecing it together.

"What? Then why did he accept me?"

"You're an exception maybe?"

"Then what were you gonna do? Expel her?" I step forward, causing Yvoire to sigh.

"That would be my normal approach but as she is a friend of yours I'll make an exception."

"Why the hell was I one then?!" I could feel anger starting to build up inside me.

"..." Yvoire take a second before responding. "That is something that I will keep to myself. There is no need to worry Arc. I promise I am not doing anything sinister." _He seems sincere. But...If he looked up Iffy then something is definitely going on._ "Now can I go back to my conversation?"

I take a deep breath to calm myself down. "Fine. What is it that you need so badly, that you did a background check?"

"It's quite simple. I need the two of you to kill Neptune." He said in a calm tone. This set me off for some reason. Bringing back the rage I felt before and then some.

"What did you just say?!" I rush to him and grab him by his collar, lifting him an inch in the air. _Even when I'm angry I'm weak? Dammit!_ "Do you want me to break your bones old man?!"

"A-Arc! Calm down, I have a good reason for this!"

"Bullshit! What reason would you have for wanting..." I then thought back to the first time we met Noire. _She said that she and Neptune were enemies. Does that mean that all the CPU's want Neptune dead?_ "You better explain yourself!"

"Arc, put him down!" Iffy grabs onto my arm and pulls. Causing me to drop Yvoire who lands on his ass. "Calm down. Isn't he your friend? He wouldn't tell you do that if he didn't think he was right." _But why. Why would he tell me to kill her?!_

Yvoire coughs a bit as he stands up. "I can understand your anger. However, that who you call Neptune brings a bad omen to our lady and Gamindustri."

"Bullshit!" I yell. "Neptune couldn't hurt a fly. She's to stupid!"

"Our lady would soon take action, however I would rather not taint her."

"So instead of having your precious 'Lady Green Heart' kill Neptune you ask her friends. You sure you don't have dementia old man?!"

"Arc please. I am only giving you the option. Should you two succeed, I will grant the two of you citizenship to Leanbox."

"You..." I turn to Iffy to see her thinking. "Are you actually thinking about this Iffy?"

"I wouldn't mind a place to settle." She drops her hands to her side. "But I'm not gonna kill Nep."

"I'm afraid that I may have to do this." Yvoire took out a small vial that had a purple, gooey liquid in it. "This is a poison that only takes affect on those who are impure."

"There is no way that a poison that ideal exists." Iffy shots him down before I have a chance.

"Should the two of you believe that Neptune is indeed pure, then you can have her drink this with no worries."

"Then why don't you drink it old man?" I ask.

"Because I only have the one vial." _So it's the only one he has..._

"What if we refuse?"

"Then the guards will take care of anything... 'suspicious'."

"Give me it then." I walk up to Yvoire and yank the vial out of his hand. "If you do anything..."

"I'm only an old receptionist. I can't do anything even if I wanted to. That's why I'm asking you." I walk out of the kitchen with Iffy close behind.

"That bastard!" I throw the vial that he gave me on the floor as hard as I can and it breaks into thousands of pieces. Allowing the liquid to burst out and spread on the floor. "Like hell I'd hurt her."

"You know the janitor is gonna have to clean that, right?" Iffy walks up to mess, takes out a towel and begins to clean it up. "But why would he ask for that?"

"He's..." I take another deep breath and calm myself. "I don't know. But dinner is definitely off." I take a look around us and realize that we are in a hallway that is unfamiliar. "Shit, We're lost." I think back to my behavior earlier and sigh. _Why'd I get so angry? I mean he did just tell me to kill my friend, but is or was my friend too. Shit. I don't think I've ever even gotten angry in my life. What was that?_

"We should probably look around for the exit." She stands up, throws out the towel into a nearby trash bin, and pats my back. "Don't worry about what happened. I'm sure this will work itself out somehow." I simply nodded.

We began to look around, opening and closing doors until we came across a room with a tall blond woman. She wore a pretty revealing green and white dress. The dress had a pink frilly..thing around her waist. She wore large white gloves with a green . There was one very important part of her dress though...it outlined her very large breasts! "Huge!" was the first thing to come out of my mouth when I laid eyes on her.

"*Yawn* Well, thank you." She sat on a green bed that was really oversize. Upon realizing what I said, I covered my mouth and was punched in the shoulder by Iffy. "Who are the two of you? Bothering me when I was nice and cozy here."

"Sorry for interrupting you. We will be leaving now. Iffy says as she pulls my arm towards her and tries to leave the room. She however takes another look at the lady, lets go if my arm and takes a couple steps forward. "L-Lady Green Heart?!" Green Heart (?) wipes her eyes and takes a good look at us.

"Oh my. What is such a cute couple doing in my room?" She suddenly claps her hands. "Were you looking for a place to make love?!" She had a smile from ear to ear.

"NO WAY!" Iffy yells. _ok_

Green Heart giggles and stands from herded. "Aw. What a shame. I'd love to see how it happens in real life." _This girl is a pervert isn't she._ "Well, what are your names?"

"Name's Arc."

"M-M-MY N-NAME IS I-I-I-"

"Her name is IF. But I call her Iffy." I interrupt her. She glares at me in response. "If I didn't say it you never would have finished."

"IF? What a cute name for a cute girl!" Green Heart happily claps her hands.

"Lady Green Heart called me cute!" She whispered to herself.

"Well, since the two of you came here, why don't we chat for a bit?"

"I don't know. Lady Green Heart, you look pretty tired. You must have been doing a lot of work."

"Why yes, Sir Arc, I had a very long night of gaming. But do not worry. I'd love to chat." _Wait...did the CPU of Leanbox just say that she was up all night gaming?! That's a joke right?_ I then look around the room. It only had 3 main things. A gigantic gaming computer,furniture such as a bed, couch, and table, and literal shit ton yaoi memorabilia. Both figures and posters. _What is with the CPUs and sucking at their job?!_

"Games? Does my lady play video games?"

"Not what you expected, huh Iffy?"

"Not really. She whispered to me.

"Why I enjoy games, anime, manga and everything else!"

"Then that web page that was hidden in your blog..." _Hidden web page?_

"You found it? Quite impressive. Now we must become friends!"

"F-F-Friends?! Me friends with Lady Green Heart?! Is my dream coming true?!" _Should I even be here?_

"Yes! I hope we have a wonderful friendship Iffy."

"I-I-Iffy?"

"Oh, You may now call me Vert." _So that's her true name._

"Welp. It was nice meeting you, Green Heart. But, I'm gonna get going. Iffy, you can stay here with your friend. I gotta..."

"Where do you think you are going Arc?" Vert runs up to me and envelopes me into a hug, putting my face right into her...bosoms.

"MM! Hmgh!" _I-I can't breath!_ I tried to get out of her hug but she was to strong. _Goddess strength again!_ I tried looking for Iffy only to see her unconscious on the ground with a giant smile on her face. _Partner no! I-I can feel my consciousness fading as well. Why must boobs be so...power...ful._

* * *

I awoke a couple hours later in the hotel room that we slept in last night. "Wha?" _To many of these things are starting with me waking up. I hope this ends soon..._ I looked at my left to see Neptune and Compa playing on a game on the TV of the room. "What happened?"

"Arcy! You're up!" Neptune dropped the controller and jumped onto me, her feet landing in my stomach.

"WHY?!" The pain rushes through my body and I fall from the bed. "Why Neptune...why?"

"Because! I'm the best." She sticks her tongue out and dances around the room. _This is the girl that Yvoire thinks is gonna destroy Gamindustri? And she is the one I protected. Fuck._

I get up from the floor, gritting my teeth from the pain, and sit on the bed. "Where is Iffy?"

"She was here a second ago. I think she went in the bathroom to get ready for dinner."Compa said as she turned off the console they played on.

"Dinner?"

"Remember? The dinner with ! I can't wait!" Neptune yelled as she ran over to me. "Thanks again!"

"Oh, that's right." _Well, I did get rid of the only vial of poison that he had. So, Neptune should be ok._ I look at her once again. She notices me and smiles. It was honestly very cute. "Jeez. I do way to much for you." I say under my breath.

"Wha'd you say?" Neptune suddenly came to my face once again, making me jump from the surprise.

"Whoa! Don't surprise me like that." Neptune giggled. Iffy comes out of the bathroom. "So Dinner?" I ask her.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it." _I guess she must have told something to Vert._

"Let's head out then." After a short walk we ended up inside the Basilicom and were greeted by Yvoire.

"Hello. Dinner is in the other room. Allow me to take you all there." Yvoire didn't look at me nor Iffy, instead looking at Compa and Neptune as he spoke. As we walked into the dining room each seat had a name plaque for each of us. _Rather fancy huh._

"Ohh! The food looks so good!" Compa says as she rushes to her seat. We all went to our respective seats. Neptune to the right of me, Compa to the left, Iffy in front of me and Yvoire to the right of her. There was an empty seat to Iffy's left. The table was rather large and we each had our own respective meals that were the size of buffets.

"I've got to say , you're quite the cook." Neptune was drooling

"Well I try. And my name..."

"Whatever! What do you recommend? I hear that to ask someone who knows is the best way to eat!"

"Why I'm glad you asked!" _Why do I have a bad feeling about this?_ "I'd recommend what is coming out right now." As he said that, three people wearing chef's clothing coming out with plates. "This here is my special 'Truffle Caviar Delight.'" He was right, the plates all had small black orbs covered in a special sauce. On the sides were pieces of bread that were literally glowing. _So fucking fancy!_ "These were made with only the best and local ingredients from Leanbox."

"*drool* Yay! Now this is leanbox! This is gonna be A to the Ma to the zing!" Neptune took out a spoon and took a big scoop from her plate. "Time to dig in." _Wait a sec, why is Neptune's sauce purple while mine is yellow? Fuck!_

"Wait Neptune, don't!" I try to smack the spoon out of Neptune's hand but she already put it in her mouth.

"*Chomp, chomp* *Glug* Hmm...what? Did you want me to feed you or something?" Neptune looks at me curiously.

"Was I wrong? I.."

"But I do have one complaint." Neptune says as she stands from her seat. "It tastes weirdly...poisony." She suddenly falls to the ground unconscious.

"Neptune!" I run over and grab her then started shaking her. "Neptune wake up! Goddammit Yvoire!"

"Nep-Nep! No!" Compa runs over to Neptune and starts assessing her body.

"Yvoire! You lied to me!" I began to run towards Yvoire only to be tackled down by the chefs in the room. "You bastard! You poisoned her!"

"Exactly. And now we know that she was truly tainted with evil!"

"You idiot! She's the CPU of Planeptune! She's Purple Heart!"

"It's so sad that you have been tainted with the evil of a Momus follower. Men, capture them!" Out of the kitchen door came a large group of guard wearing green armor and brandishing guns.

"Owwy! Let me go!" A guard grabs onto Compa's arm. Pulling her away from Neptune and out of the dining room.

"Dammit! Let me go! Compa, Nep, Arc!" Another one grabs Iffy and pulls her out of the room.

"Stay in prison. Your faith will be cleansed by the time you are released." Guard comes toward me, but before he grabs me I kick him in the face. I turn towards Neptune's body and put her over my shoulder. Only to be shot in the arm.

"Guh!"

"*Sigh* To think you would be tricked by a mere girl." A guard takes both Neptune and I away.

"I shoulda known..." My consciousness fades as I see the Neptune dumped into a cell. _Neptune...I should have tried better._


	9. Chapter 9

_**AN: Only one chapter this week, due to midterms having taken up most of my time. Next time will be two chapters, although one of them may be a valentines day chapter. Anyway, sorry about only doing one this time. Won't happen again...until maybe finals.**_

* * *

I awoke to a pair of hands wrapping cloth around my arm. It was Compa and she was tending to my wound. I look up at her to see tears in her eyes. "Compa, I'm fine."

"Ah." She took her hands away from me and steps back. I sit up from my position to see Neptune lying next to me, no emotion on her face. _..._

"How long have I been out?" Iffy, who was looking out the window on top of the door, turns to me and opens her phone.

"It's been three hours." Her voice was choppy, and she also had tears in her eyes.

"We really fucked up this time, huh?" I throw my fist onto the ground, only to cause another rush of pain to my shoulder. "How is Neptune?"

"I can't see well here, but she's getting colder. It can't be good." Compa says, petting Neptune's head. I take off my jacket and wrap it around her.

"I told her that she was too trusting...but she never listened to me, huh."

"Arcy...is Nep-Nep gonna die?" Compa's voice was choppy. She was definitely crying. "I-I don't want Nep-Nep to die!"

"She's not gonna die." I attempt to reassure her. "Neptune is was to persistent to die from something like this. You know she'd do it in some weird way..." _I won't let her die. Not after I already failed. I shouldn't have trusted Yvoire, I should have suspected that bastard had something up his sleeve! Fuck me!_

"We...we need help. Please Help Lady Vert!" Iffy yelled. _We're too desperate. Fuck..._

"Did you call Iffy?" I heard a familiar voice from the other side of the door.

"Lady...Vert?" The door swings open and sure enough, there stood Vert.

"What are you all doing in such a dirty place? I can't have my precious friends be stuck here. Come." Vert suddenly walks away, forcing the four of us to follow. Iffy and Compa run after her, leaving me to carry Neptune. _You're way more trouble than you're worth... no. I can't think that anymore. She's my friend, I have to protect her. Why else do I feel like trash?_

Upon reaching Vert's room I set Neptune on Vert's bed and wrap her in the covers. "To think that Yvoire would do this..." Vert looked over Neptune and puts another pillow under her head.

"Why the hell would he even do this?! We did nothing wrong!" Iffy pleaded to Vert. It seemed that on the way here Iffy explained what happened.

"Well..." Vert walked to the couch and sat down. "Yesterday Yvoire came to me and told me that there was an evangelist of Momus in the nation who wanted to speak with me." Vert took a sip of tea as the three of us sat around her. "I told him not to do a thing, as it was probably only a rumor, but he has been known to not follow orders."

"Momus? What's that? And what does it have to do with Nep-Nep?" Compa asked.

"Momus is...well I don't know. All I know is that wherever that name goes, so does trouble. No one really knows when or why but a group calling themselves Momus believers suddenly appeared and did nothing but cause trouble. Although, they aren't really that much of a threat. All they really do is call small annoyances. The most they do is annoy people and interrupt delivers by an hour." Vert took a deep breath and looked down. "I don't know why Yvoire would go to such lengths for a small issue..."

"That she doesn't matter." I speak up, catching everyone's attention. "How the hell are we gonna cure Neptune?"

"Neptune? Is that this girl's name?" Vert looks over to Neptune again and sighs. _She didn't realize that it was Neptune...do they not know how they look normally? What has this console war been exactly?_

"I really couldn't care less about what you have to say about this situation 'Lady Vert' I only want to make sure that Neptune lives to annoy me tomorrow. " I say with a bit of venom in my voice. "What do I have to do to save her?"

"Are you sure? You have been in that cell for a while. Aren't you hungry?"

"I'm not eating a thing that comes from this basilicom."

"I see. I can understand your mistrust." Vert stands up and walks to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Yet, you are wounded. You need to rest."

"I'm not wounded anymore. " I show her my shoulder and show her the now healed scar.

"*sigh* Very well. I need to know what kind of poison that it was." _Maybe I should have kept that vial...shit._

Iffy takes out a napkin and gives it to Vert. "This is the contents of what was in a vial that Yvoire gave Arc. It should be the same type of poison." _Iffy with the save!_ Vert takes a whiff of the poison and immediately snaps her fingers.

"It seems that this is a poison of the ancients."

"Well you sure know your poisons." I comment.

"No, no. I don't know anything."

"Then...how did you know it?"

"I simply searched the internet while you all were distracted!" She shows me her smart phone and there is a result on Gooogle. _These goddesses suck!_ "Just in case, I posted it on 765-chan and got pro-answers within seconds." She wiggles her breasts in excitement. _End me._

"Whatever. What is the cure?"

"Yes, however to make the antidote you need an ingredient from a monster. And it is quite strong. So we will need to plan." Vert takes out a map that she had in between her breasts for some reason and puts it on the table. "The monster is a White whale and it is located in the Marubaco forest. Now..." _God this is taking to long!_ I look over at Neptune and put a hand on her forehead. _Her temperature is dropping. She isn't gonna last long. I might as well..._

"Hey, I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick. Alright?" Everyone nods and goes back to planning.

* * *

I reach Marubaco forest without anyone noticing. The forest is really similar to every single forest I've ever seen. There are clearings connected by bridges and monsters all over the place. _This world does not have much variety does it?_ I could already see that giant whale at the back of the forest. _Great.._.

After about twenty minutes of stealthily making my way around the monsters, I ended up in a large clearing with only myself and the whale. That was just it, it was a giant ass white whale that was somehow floating in the air and breathing. _This world is fucked up._ "Alrighty then ***Projection: Blood Scythe*** " _Cuz blood sucker...is a bit too...y'know._ The whale instantly rushed over to me and crashed into me, pushing me back to a rock behind me. _Fucking hell!_

I get up and cough out a bit of spit. The whale stares at me, waiting for me to make a move. "Look, we can resolve this peacefully. I just need you to die ok? Its for a friend. " The whale rushes towards me again, I dodge roll to the right and stab my sword into its fin. Causing the whale to roar. _What's with monsters that don't have lungs fucking roaring?!_

The whale opened it's mouth and an orb of blue light shot out, tracking me and shooting the sword out of my hand. "You can't disarm-" it flicks its tail towards me, forcing me to duck. "Woah there buddy. " It begins to charge again. I summon another blood scythe and back hand it. "Nah boi. **Inferno Divider!** " Through the power of invincibility frames I am able slice through it's attack and cut it's eye. Ending the attack with a ax kick, forcing it on the ground. I land near it's unconscious body and wipe my sweat covered forehead. "I can't believe I was able to get that. I could have sworn I would've lost. But I guess..." I look down towards where the body WAS. "wut" A bolt of lightning stuck down onto my head, paralyzing me and forcing me onto the ground. _God fuuuuuck!_ I attempt to look towards where the whale might be bit of course I couldn't move a muscle. _A-Am I gonna die? I should have listened to Iffy and Vert! Fucking hell!_

" **Sylhet Spear!** " I felt a rush of air move over my body, the only knowledge that I had was the sound of pixels bursting and something hitting the ground. _What's going on? Am I dead yet?!_ Next thing I know, my body is being lifted off the ground. I regained some mobility with my head and look to see that it is Iffy who is carrying me.

"You always gotta be the hero, huh?" Iffy comments as she pulls me out of the forest. I attempt to say something in retaliation but nothing comes out. _I don't want to be a hero...I just want to save Neptune. Wait, that is a hero. You got me there._

* * *

After Vert did some mumbo jumbo and Yvoire, who was now constantly apologizing, got Compa the the tools that she needed to create the antidote. After about an hour of waiting, Compa entered Vert's room where we all waited. "Is it ready?" I ask. Compa nods her head and walks over to Neptune who is lying face up on Vert's large bed.

"But..." She hesitates to give Neptune the antidote. "I don't think I'm the right person to save Nep-Nep..."

"What the hell are you talking about? It doesn't matter how Neptune gets better as long as she does." I attempt to argue but Compa shakes her head.

"Arcy, you risked your life to save Nep-Nep. You should do it."

"I didn't do shit. It was Vert who beat the whale. Just give her..." Compa runs over to me, gives me a vial with orange liquid and pushes me to the unconscious Neptune. "God dammit, Compa." I gently open Neptune's mouth and pour the contents of the vial into her mouth. "This better work." After a few seconds of everyone holding their breath...nothing. "What?!" I scramble to Neptune and check her pulse, normal. Her temperature, normal. _Did it cure her but not wake her up? W-Why?!_

"Perhaps Neptune needs to be awaken by a prince's kiss?" Vert says with excitement.

"A K-K-KISS?!" Iffy yells.

"Why yes, It is only natural for a prince's kiss to save a heroine who was poisoned." Vert's begins to happily swing from side to side. "How scandalous. To think I'd' be able to see a kiss from so close."

"I-I think I should do it. Iffy volunteers. "Arc shouldn't be forced to do something that he doesn't want to."

"I could do it." Iffy immediately deflates. "I have no problem with kissing Neptune as long as it saves her."

"B-But are you sure you want to?" I nod my head at Iffy's question and get a sigh in return. I place my hand on the right of Neptune's head in order to keep balance. _Alrighty..._ As I reached Neptune's face a wave of embarrassment waved over me. _Why am I feeling this? Fuck it, power through it!_ I reached Neptune's face, her lips and mine were centimeters apart.

"Ahhh! Are you trying to take my precious first?!" Neptune suddenly jumped out of the bed, roundhouse kicked me, and struck a pose near where Vert and Iffy stood. Her face was strangely deep red, probably a side effect from the poison.

"Ow! What the hell?!" Vert and Iffy sighed while Compa gave Neptune a bear hug.

"Nep-Nep! You're alright! I'm so glad!"

"Woah! What happened?" A giant question mark appears above Neptune's head.

"Oh you were just poisoned. It's whatever." I comment, rubbing the back of my head. "Maybe I should have left you sleeping."

"Oh how rude! Is that what you say to a girl after she nearly died?"

"Yes." Neptune pouts and looks to the one person who she doesn't know in the room. Vert.

"Now who is this voluptuous woman? Did you get me 'Entertainment' for a celebration!" _I should have left her asleep._

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Neptune. My name is Vert and I am the goddess of this nation." Vert shakes Neptune's hand as she seems rather confused.

"So your the Green Heart that Iffy loves so much? I didn't expect you to be...gigantic!" Neptune suddenly grabs Vert's breasts and starts shaking them around. "Hmmm. How soft. Is this what having an actual chest feels like?!"

"N-Neptune! While I am h-happy that you are safe, I must ask you to stop! Not in front of a young lad!" _I almost died for this. Fuck._ I get up from the bed and walk out of the room. Not wanting to deal with what the hell was going to happen next. Immediately as I left the room i heard a questionable yell that made me sorta regret leaving.

Five minutes later I am face to face with Yvoire. Well, he had to look down cuz I was sitting on the floor. "W-Why hello Arc."

"..."

"I hear that Lady Neptune is back on her feet. T-That's good."

"..." He stood in front of me awkwardly for another few seconds. "What do you want, bastard?"

"I feel that I must tell you about why I felt that Lady Neptune was a threat." I nod my head to show him to go further. "Do you remember the day that you first came here, the person that you ran into?" The image of the robe covered girl appeared in my mind.

"Yes, I do."

"Well, she had informed that she was an evangelist of Lowee and had been following the four of you for a while. She told me that Neptune was a messenger of Momus."

"And you believed her?"

"She told me that Neptune worked with a person named Arfoire and showed me this." Yvoire took out a tablet and showed me a picture. It was Neptune and Arfoire however the picture was taken as if it was a selfie. I know the background...it was monster cave. And there was me and Iffy talking right in the back of the frame. _Looks like I know who that "evangelist' really is._

"Yvoire, you are a fucking idiot." I got up from the floor and walked into Vert's room, in order to tell everyone of what I had learned. _Looks like another boss fight is coming up...ugh!_

"We heard!" Neptune yelled immediately when I walked into the room. "I couldn't help but eavesdrop on you."

"Well, that saves me an explanation." I was about to leave to get ready when I remembered something I had to do. "By the way Neptune..."

"?"

"I'm sorry for letting you get poisoned." I turned to her. Iffy Vert and Compa were sitting on the couch, apparently enjoying the show. "I should have known that Yvoire had something up his sleeve, it's my fault for being careless. I'm sorry." After a couple seconds of silence, Neptune roared into a crazy fit of laughing. "Oh c'mon! I'm trying to apologize here!"

"Hahaha! Jeez, are you stupid or what?" Neptune grabbed onto my shoulder, looked me dead in the face and laughed even harder.

"Oh. My. Fucking. God." _I should have poisoned her._

"Ok...ok! Haha! My side hurts!" She took another ten seconds to stop laughing. "Ok...jeez. Don't worry about it System of the Works. You did nothing wrong. Heck, you were the one who saved me right?"

"I wouldn't have needed to save you if I didn't fuck up in the first place."

"Stop being a silly willie and blame yourself." Neptune slapped my on the back and gave me a wide smile. There was something different this time. It wasn't one of her crazy energy smiles or her troll smiles. She seemed to be filled with genuine happiness. "You really risked your life for me. That couldn't make me happier. I owe ya one buddy!"

"O-Okay..." Neptune happily skipped out of the room, leaving me stunned. _What was that?_

"It looks like a route had been established!" Vert popped a party popper and clapped her hands along with Compa.

"Yeah, don't count on that." _I'd never go on a route with the likes of Neptune._

"We'll see!" Compa says happily as she follows Neptune. Vert goes along excitedly.

"Well, looks like we've still got some work ahead of us. I'll go try and gather info." Iffy left rather suddenly. Leaving me to my thoughts. _There's no way I'm on a route. Right?_

"Right? Yo, author, right?"

...

Right?


	10. Chapter 10

_**AN: Hello! Glad that you guys came back! Again, I hope you enjoy this pack and I appreicate any and all reviews. Constructive criticism or not.**_

* * *

Upon the explanation of how Yvoire was tricked, all five of us began to look around Leanbox main city. Asking any and all citizens if they had seen anyone that looked like the description that we were given. After about three hours of asking around, I sat on a random bench in the central park of Leanbox, tired and hungry. "God dammit. Where is this chick?" Compa sat next to me, eating a granola bar.

"I don't know...I hope the others are having better luck than us, Arcy." We had split up into two groups. Compa and I were one, the other was Iffy, Neptune and Vert. They were the largest group because of security...or that's what Vert told me anyway.

"*Sigh* This is way too much of hassle."

"But we gotta get revenge! She tried to kill Neptune!" Although Compa was talking about revenge, everything about her made it impossible to take that seriously.

"You have a point. It's her fault I'm on this goddamn route as well...I wanna punch her in the face."

"Route?"

"Don't worry about it." _I still have time to go back to neutral!_ I stand up from the bench to stretch and notice something out of the corner of my eye. What I see is a woman in a robe, running away from a flock of guards wearing green suits. Following behind the guards are 3 very familiar girls, with one sticking out due to the 'physics' caused by her running. "I guess they found trickster. Compa, let's go!"

 _ **20 minutes later...**_

"Y-Yo! Wait up!" Compa and I attempted to catch up with Neptune and crew, but we kept just missing them. They were able to chase the trickster all the way to ANOTHER valley dungeon. Neptune finally here's my plea and stops running. Allowing Compa and I to catch up to her. Vert and Iffy stop as well. "Fuck man...I've been crying out to you guys for a while. Why didn't you hear me?!"

"Sorry, I didn't know it was you Arcy! I thought I heard a little boy cry out to me."

"That's just harsh." I put my hands on my knees and attempt to catch my breath.

"Damn, we lost them." Iffy curses under her breath. I look up and see that both the guards and the woman were missing.

"They are most likely at the end of the dungeon. Guess we got another boss battle."

"Oh wow, a boss battle. I can't fucking wait. End me." I say under my breath, I was then given an elbow in the gut provided by Neptune.

"Buck up buddy! If you could save me, you can beat a boss."

"Yea...no." _I almost died then as well._ Neptune puts her arm around my neck and pulls me up to stand up straight. How she was even able to keep her arm around me was a mystery. She was almost a foot shorter than me. "Please let go."

"Alrighty..." She let go and began walking forward. "Let's go and find that girl who tried to kill me!" _She is saying that with too much excitement. Whatever..._

Upon reaching the end of the valley, we were greeted by the sight of about thirty unconscious guards with the robbed woman standing above all of them. "You girls are so persistent! Why can't you just leave me alone." Her voice sounded very fake. It sounded like a grown woman who was trying way to hard to sound like a young girl.

"Cuz you tried to kill me! How dare ya!" Neptune yelled at her, with her arms raised.

"W-Well, it must have been a mistake. I'm only a simple evangelist."

"Oh sure, that's totally believable. It's almost as if every normal evangelist is able to beat the crap out of so many guards. Of course!"

"Tch...fine then!" The woman threw off her robe. Underneath the robe wasssssss Arfoire.

"Oh my god, it's Arfoire. I'm so surprised. How could this be? Our worst enemy that we've only fought once. Oh my god." I sarcastically said causing arfoire to laugh maniacally.

"Muhahahaha! That's right. It's me, and I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling protagonists and your love for heroines.

"I have no love for any heroines! I am a neutral protag!"

"Yeah right..." All the girls said in unison.

"Who's side are you on?!"

"So you are Arfoire. Give me back what you have stolen from me!" Vert suddenly yelled at her. Totally ignoring me. _Fine whatever._

"So this old hag took annoyed you as well Vert?" I ask. "What, did she steal something like your game controller or something?"

"Nope. She stole my immortality and goddess power." _I did not expect something serious to come out of Vert's mouth._

"Oh, so that's what she tried to do to me last time!" Neptune put the pieces together. _Oh yeah...the time that I took the hit for Neptune. I'm doing that a lot...but I'm not on her route!_

"Precisely! However, you won't be getting back your powers anytime soon 'Green Heart'." A sudden light surrounded Arfoire and out came a woman who looked nothing like her. She had long flowing light green hair, her clothing was almost nonexistent, all she wore was what seemed to be a two piece white swimsuit that had no straps. She had 2 small white mechanical wings that floated behind her and she wielded a long white spear with the blade being a green metal. Oh, yeah, and she also had humongous breasts. A bit bigger than Vert's whose face she wore.

"Huge! Ugh!" I was elbowed in both of my sides. One by Neptune and the other by Iffy. "I'm used to Iffy, but why you to Neptune?!"

"Cuz it's fun!"

"My my...I am quite the sexy goddess." Vert was ogling at her transformed self, only to be slashed at. She jumped backwards before the attack could reach her. "I forgot, it's Arfoire."

"Can all of you die now?" Although it looked like Vert, she still had her own voice which looked kinda weird.

Neptune immediately transformed and struck at Arfoire, only for her attack to be blocked. "Why did you try to kill me?!"

"Because I hate you!" Arfoire parried Neptune's attack, then stuck herself only for her attack to be blocked by a large tree like spear that appeared out of nowhere.

"Don't forget me~." Vert said happily as she punched Arfoire, causing her to go flying. She however recovered in midair.

"Ugh. You goddess are so annoying. This would be so much easier if all of you would just let me punish you!" She flew down to where Vert stood with amazing speed. She stuck the ground a couple feet away from Vert, catching her off guard. The ground shook, causing all of us who stood on it to fall on our asses. Unexpectedly Arfoire appeared before myself. Spear at the ready. "I guess I'll just get rid of your sidekicks." I tried to grab the spear with my right hand, however missing I was able to change the trajectory of her attack. The spear sliced the top of my right shoulder.

"Get off me!" I kick Arfoire in the abdomen, however she didn't even flinch.

"You Id-" Arfoire was interrupted by a kick given by Neptune.

"You really are helpless aren't you?"

"No, I can..." The pain I felt from my wound stopped me from talking. It stung way to much for a normal cut. I couldn't even move my right arm anymore. _Paralysis. Of course that'd be Vert's power._

"I got you." Compa ran over to me and opened up an aid kit I had no idea she had. "Can you talk?" I attempted to move my mouth only to be greeted by pain. I couldn't even shake my head. "Well, this is a problem...I have no experience with this debuff."

"Ummm...a little help here. Iffy, Neptune?" Unbeknownst to us, Vert was single-handedly keeping Arfoire at bay. Well, at bay isn't the right thing to say. Vert had gained a scary amount of wounds in such a short amount of time. Her clothes that were pretty not twenty minutes ago were now severely stained with blood. _So this is the difference between a non-transformed CPU and a transformed one. God I am so lucky that I was able to beat Noire._

"Shit! Lady Vert!" Iffy immediately ran to vert, with her quarters glowing white. " **Heavenly slash!** " The attack had not reached Arfoire, but did make her back off from Vert. "Lady Vert, go get patched up by Compa. You can't take this much punishment any longer."

"No." She stated outright. Catching Iffy off guard. "I am the CPU of Leanbox. I may be lazy, I may be unreliable, but I am still this nation's goddess. If this woman is planning what I think she is, then I can't do leave her alone. Plus, the little hero needs it more than I do." _I don't you idiot. What happened to only caring about games and yaoi. Jeez, just what is the deal with these goddess and making me want to help them._

"Com..." I am able to get out. "Now..." Compa nods her head. She takes out her giant syringe and lines it up with my arm. _NO WAIT I CHANGE MY MIND!_ "FUUUUCK THAT HURTS!" I scream out as Compa injects a portion of the contents of her weapon into me. My paralysis immediately heals, but the pain is almost unbearable. I immediately start rolling on the ground, holding onto my arm. "Why why why why why why."

"Don't be such a big baby, Nep pulls me up to my feet and pats me on the back. Causing even more tears to flow out of my eyes. "Compa, go help Vert now."

"Right!" Compa runs up to Vert, pushes her on the ground and starts...examining her.

"G-Get off of me!"

"NO"

"P-Please st- oh my" _Why didn't I get that treatment...what am I thinking?!_

"Alright, Arcy, Iffy. Let's do this." Iffy runs up to Arfoire and kicks her, however her kick is blocked by her spear. "Above!" Neptune flies above where Arfoire is standing and strikes down from the sky. Arfoire pushed Iffy of, and flies a couple feet backwards. Dodging her attack completely. However...

"Hey there. **Earth Shatter**." A white aura was centered around my hand and stuck at Arfoire who was already guarding. But, I planned on that. The attack pushed her back to where a magic circle was inscribed.

"Not again..."

" **Demon Flames!** " The magic circle erupted as Arfoire stood in the middle of it. There was no chance that she could stop that attack, but there was no way that beat her. When the flames died down, Arfoire stood in the middle of the circle, using her spear to keep her standing.

"Well then, I'll finish you off. **EXE Drive: Projection-Blade Dance.** " A literal shit ton of swords appeared in the air and fell down onto where Arfoire stood, she took her spear in hand and began deflecting every one that fell to her. "Jeez, why do I have to be distraction?"

"What are you-" Arfoire was about to question until she was struck in the back by a large purple sword.

" **32 Bit Mega Blade**." Neptune's newest special. The attack caught Arfoire by surprise and lead her straight into the onslaught of iron rain. Neptune turned around, struck a pose and said "Enemy terminated."

"Fucking nerd." I call her, as I walk to where Vert, Compa and Iffy stood. "But GGs guys."

"Look who's the nerd now." Vert commented.

"Sure, get back to me when you don't look like a mummy." She could only pout at that comment. "Now then, what to do about her..." We looked towards the cloud of smoke. After a couple seconds we could see an unconscious Arfoire with a small green crystal next to her. When the crystal was in view Vert ran over to it, grabbed it and dusted it off.

"I'm saved! My powers, oh my sweet powers!" She began rubbing her cheek on it.

"The goddess's powers are held in a crystal?" The crystal looked like any other rare gem. The only difference was that within it, it held what looked like a power icon.

"Not really." Vert answered. "However, should a goddess ever lose her powers in an unnatural way, it will manifest itself as this gem."

"Unnatural? So what is the natural way for a goddess to lose their powers?"

"By dying." This revelation comes as a surprise to me, even thought I should have seen it coming. "The only ways a goddess will die is if she either is killed or losses all of her shares."

"Shares? God this is getting too complicated."

"Hehe. I'll explain that later, my cute little hero." _Who you calling cute?_ Vert suddenly puts the crystal in her mouth and swallows.

"WOAH! WHAT THAT MOUTH DO?!" Neptune yells, as she runs into me.

"Anything." Vert says, punching her chest to make the crystal go down properly. A aura appered from her for a second and then died down. "Whew! I feel so much better! Now I will be able to play MMOs forever!"

"How this world has not imploded is a mystery to me." I stretch and yawn, I begin to walk over to Arfoire's body, only to step on a strange object. I pick up what was under my foot and It ended up being a giant key.

"Did you just step on a key fragment, Arcy?!" Neptune runs over and takes the fragment out of my hand. The moment she touches it, it disappears. "Oh, neat!"

"So Arfoire had the fragment, huh? Wait, where did she go?" Iffy asks. We look to where she was and she was gone.

"Oh well! At least we got the fragment!" Neptune yells.

"It's not good, but whatever. I don't have the energy to deal with her again anyway. I just wanna go home." Everyone nods. Looks like I wasn't the only one who was blown out by that fight. "Thank god...Lets go."

* * *

"Would you like a piece of cake, Cutie?"

"..."

"Lady Vert! Please stop calling Arc that!"

"I'm sorry, I was simply teasing him. I won't steal him from you, Iffy~"

"I-I wasn't worried about that..."

"Whew! This pudding is so minty! You made this right, Compa?"

"Yup! I'm glad you like it!"

"What is this?!" I yell at the top of my lungs. Upon defeating Arfoire we left for Leanbox's Basilicom and reported there. I was sure that Vert had stayed there when we left...but now she is sitting next to me at the dinning table of the cruise ride back to Planeptune. "Why is Vert here and why is everyone acting cool with it!? And stop calling me Cutie! It's worse than Arcy!"

"Awww. I came because I thought that you would miss me, Cutie. Was I wrong?" Vert props up her breasts in a seductive manner.

"Yes you were." I say. "I've already got my hands full with Neptune, I don't need another weird Goddess that I have to look after!"

"Don't be a party pooper Arc. You know you love having us."

"I do, and it makes me want to die." I sit down and pinch the bridge between my eyes. "I'm guessing the next place we're going is Lowee, right?"

"Yuppers! I can't wait to meet their goddess. Hopefully we will gain another party member!" Neptune's energy was again very impressive.

"I hope she isn't..." Neptune and Vert look at me with creepy smiles on their faces. Actually...only Vert had the creepy smile. Neptune had the innocent smile that she always had. "A disappointment?" I ask, waiting for Vert's reaction.

"Oh she will be." Vert takes a sip of her tea. "I hear that she's flat chested. Muhahaha..."

"Ok...? That's it?" I ask. Vert acts shocked and slams her cup down.

"Why of course that's it!Why would you have no reaction?"

"Cuz Neptune's flat, and she's a goddess." Neptune starts puffing out her chest with her spoon still in her mouth.

"Flat is justice Vert! Iffy knows what I'm talkin bout, right?!"

"Hell yeah! Flat always wins!"

"Oh Iffy, you have no idea how wrong you are. Compa, you are with me correct?" Vert begins moving her breasts in retaliation to Neptune's chest puffing.

"I guess so." The four of them begin arguing over which bust size is the best with the crew looking on with aw.

"...these are the leaders of this world. And these are my party members."

"FLAT!"

"OPPAI"

"Stay hopeful Histy." I salute to the sky as a shooting star went by.


	11. Reborn Valentine Special 1

Today is February 14th, Valentine's day. The day that is apparently a very important date for romantics. Which I am not. "*sigh* Why is this even important?" I sat inside an empty guild as all of the quests were closed for the day.

With the excuse being,"Take the day off to spend with your love 3" and it was mildly annoying. I really needed to get some cash in general. Neptune blew on my cash on grocery shopping.

"Aw man. This is gonna be annoying." I stand up and leave the empty guild. All around Planeptune there were two types of people out today. Either people who were on dates or people who were angry that they were alone. I was neither of em. I couldn't careless about the date, I only found it a minor inconvenience. Everything was decorated with hearts and pink and it was sorta bad for my eyes. As I entered Compa's apartment I was bombarded with the smell of chocolate and ice cream. _What's going on..._ I walked into the living room to see Compa, Neptune and Vert eating giant jugs of vanilla ice cream and boxes of chocolates. All the while they were crying and watching the show I had recorded for myself. Jonathan's romantic adventure. "Ok, what the hell is going on here? Are you guys ok?" I ask them, genuinely worried about them. I've never seen them like this.

"A-Arcy..." Neptune says in a hushed tone. "Why does nobody love us?!" Neptune stuck a huge scoop of ice cream in her mouth and tears fall down faster. "WAHHHH." Vert and Compa joined in on the crying. _I shouldn't have expected a serious problem._ I walked into the kitchen, grab a glass of water and down it, attempting to get rid of the headache that the girls crying gave me. The sound of the front door opening caused me to walk over to it. There stood Iffy, who had a pamphlet in her hand.

"Oh, hey there Iffy. Don't tell me you're here to join in on Neptune." Iffy jumps at the sound of my voice.

"O-Oh. Sorry, I didn't see you there." _Yet you were looking right at me._ " I was daydreaming a bit."

"Okayyyyy. Are you ok?" _Why is everyone acting so weird today?_ Iffy puts the pamphlet to my face. I grab it and read the cover. It says

"Free lunch for you and your Hubby! For all pairs that come to our restaurant you will be treated to our special valentine's themed meal, free of charge!

Of course this is a limited time offer, so bring your lover! 3" On the cover was a stereotypical happy couple holding hands and feeding each other chocolates

"What, you wanna go to this?" I ask her. She nodded while facing the ground. "I mean, I would go with you but this is for couples isn't it? We aren't one." _This isn't a confession is it? Nah, Iffy wouldn't be into me like that._

"W-Well, I was thinking that we could just act like one...I've always wanted to try this place out but it's so expensive." I look at the restaurant and can't help but agree. It's one of the highest rated in all of Planeptune, hell all of Gamindustri. It's run by Gordon Blamesy, the famously angry chef.

I look at Iffy and she stares back with puppy dog eyes, tears in the corners of her eyes to add effect. "Dammit. Fine. Just because it's you." _This better not bite me in the ass._ "Let me go tell Nep-"

"Don't!" She suddenly yells. "Just tell her that we got a quest or something."

"Ok...If you say so." I walk to the living room and am greeted by even louder crying. _This is a joke right? Right?_ "Yo, Iffy and I are going to go do a quest. Call me if you need anything that is important. You hear me, Important." Neptune waves me off and dries off her tears with a a piece of chocolate then shoves it in her mouth. _That's gross._

"Bring us some more ice cream, ok?" Vert asks from the background.

"And puddin!" Neptune adds.

"Yeah, Yeah." I walk to the door and pat Iffy on the back. "Ready?"

"Y-Yeah."

The walk to the restaurant was a quiet one when compared to all the other walks on our adventure. "WELCOME TO MY RESTAURANT!" The chef, Mr. Gordon greeted us when we reached the door. His yelling immediately made my ears pop. "I ASSUME YOU ARE HERE FOR THE COUPLE SPECIAL." Gordon was a blond haired man who had a face that was always in a frown.

"Yes, and please stop yelling sir..." I plead.

"Oh, sorry." He changed from yelling to a pretty nice and stereotypical proper accent. "I just got in a fight with a fake couple. They attempted to trick me. But that won't happen again!" I felt my sins, if you could call it that, crawl up my back.

"Yup, cuz we're a great and completely real couple. Totally not pretending. Right Iffy?" I put my arm around her waist in order to add to the lie.

"Y-Yup! I love him so much!" Iffy said in a very static voice. She immediately began blushing after she talked, making Gordon laugh.

"Well then. Welcome to my restaurant. Go inside and the waiters will lead you to a table." We did as he asked and were seated near a window overlooking a park. Iffy and I were seated face to face. The entire restaurant was decorated with hearts and other valentine's day decorations. Everyone that was seated there were couples, young and old.

"Well, that was easier than I thought. Right?" Iffy was completely still, her face beet red. "You alright?"

"Y-Yeah. I-I-I'm good." Iffy picked up the menu laid out before her and covered her face with it. _She's been acting really weird today...wait. She's always this weird. Never mind. Now then, I'm hungry._ I grab the menu and my eyes immediately picks up on a wonderful steak. I could already feel myself drooling.

"So what are you going to get? I think I already found my pick." Iffy started fidgeting with the menu.

"What can I get for you two, today?" A waiter who looked like he was dead inside asked us. Iffy jumped at the question.

"I-I-I-"

"We still need some time sir. For now we'd like some water." The waiter nods at me and walked away. "Are you sure you're alright, Iffy? Your acting stranger than you usually do."

"What does that mean?!" She whisper yells at me. "It's just...this place makes me feel weird." She pouts and shrinks in her seat.

"Oh. I guess I can see your point. Being surrounded by couples is a little nerve racking." Iffy sighs and puts her menu down.

"I just wish...the person I'm was here with would get the message." I could barely hear what she had said.

"Ohhh. I get it." Iffy sits up at this. "You wanted to come with the person you like! I didn't think that you had a crush on someone. Well, who is it? Do i know em?" Iffy smashes her fist against the table, shaking it. The noise made everyone look towards us. Iffy waved them off, then glared at me.

"You're an idiot." It felt like the sentence could kill me.

"Haha...sensitive subject, huh..." Iffy puts the menu back up to her face, refusing to look at me. _What'd I do?_

"Are you ready now?" The waiter comes back. He puts two glasses of water on the table.

Iffy shots me a glare before talking to the waiter. "I'll take the...um..."

"Yes?"

"Givemeyourlovepancakes." Iffy says super fast, with the waiter being the only one who is able to write it down.

"Ok then Miss. Now then sir, what will you have?" I look down at the menu and realize that it has really dumb names. _That explains why Iffy said it like that._

"I'll have the 'Take My Big Meat Baby, Steak'" The man giggles before writing down my order.

"Very well. I'll be back with your order soon." When the waiter leave, I get kicked in the leg.

"Ow! Why Iffy?!"

"W-Why would you choose such a stupidly named meal?!" Her face was red with anger.

"It's not my fault that it's such a weird name!"

"Yeah well...what?" Iffy looked out the window next to us and put her face in her hands.

"What's...*sigh* Of course." Outside the window was a young looking purple haired girl, who is all too familiar to me. She had her face pressed up to the glass, so much so that her breath was visible on the glass. "Neptune..."

"Hey! Whatchu doin?! Ya on a date?!" Her voice was barely audible, meaning she was yelling really loud outside.

"Neptune...leave." Iffy whispers.

"What?! I can't hear you! I'm gonna come inside, just give me a sec!"

"Neptune don't-" Iffy was too late, Neptune was already gone and almost immediately was at the side of our table. "What?!"

"Soooo, you two in a date or something? Oh! Bread!" Neptune doesn't even wait for our response, she grabbed a chair from an empty table, pulled it up to our table and started stuffing her mouth with the bread that was put on the table.

"Neptune...what are you even doing here?" I ask.

"Momhhmhomh"

"Finish eating first!"

"*gulp* I came here in cuz I was looking for food." _Of course._ "Plus I was a little suspicious of when you said that you two were going on a quest."

"W-Why?" Iffy asks.

"Well, first I heard you yell before Arcy told us he was leaving. So that was fairly obvious." Neptune said all matter-of-factly while putting a shit ton of butter on another piece of bread.

"Why would you be suspicious?" I ask. "It's not like you were jealous or anything, right?" Neptune coughed up the bread she ate.

"Of course not!" Neptune yelled. If the employees didn't know she was here before, they do now. "I just wanted food."

"Um excuse me. " The waiter came up to us. Once he looked at Neptune his entire face filled with sudden realization. I look at Neptune and notice that her mouth was absolutely filled with pieces of bread and she was attempting to fit more in. _Goddess of Planeptune._ "You know what, I'll just say this is an exception. She's obviously..."

"She's very special." Iffy finishes for him. "Does this mean we still get the deal?"

"Sure... she just can't order anything. I'll be back with your food." Neptune shrugs off what he said and continues eating(?) bread.

"Neptune, you are insane." She nods her head excitedly and swallows.

"I may be insane, but I'm also amazing." The waiter leaves our plates without saying a word. "Ohhh! That steak looks so good! Let me have a bite, Arcy!"

"Let me taste it first, dammit." I cut a small part of the pretty large steak lead the fork into my mouth. "T-This is amazing!" _The meat is so juicy yet tender. It feels like I'm eating perfection._

"Let me taste!" I reluctantly cut a piece for her and motion to pass her the fork. "No. Feed me!" _What are you, four?_ I stick the fork in her mouth and she begins chewing. Only to sing in joy. "SOOO good! Ahhh, amazing."

"Seriously?" Iffy asks us. Her face was in a scowl that I've become too familiar with. "Not only did you feed her, but you gave her an...ugh." Iffy clenched her fork so hard that it bended around her fist. _I'm screwing up so badly today!_

"Gave me what?" Neptune asks. "Oh! An indirect kiss!" Neptune shouts in delight. Again, gaining the attention of the restaurant.

"Neptune, seriously lower your voice." I flick her on her forehead, causing her to yelp and leaving a small red mark. "And what the hell is an indirect kiss?"

"You can't be serious." Iffy asks and she presses her head into her hands. "How can you not know what that is?"

"I don't know, man. I've been very lonely." I've barely had any interactions with people over my life.

"*sigh* An indirect kiss is when someone puts something in their mouth that another person had before them."

"So like saliva transferring or something?" Iffy nods her head. "That's not a big deal. I don't see why you guys make such a fuss about it."

"It's cuz it's romantic Arcy. It's common sense."

"Neptune, yo shouldn't be talking about common sense." Neptune bops her own head. "Maybe I do know nothing about romance..."

"Oh you don't." Iffy says. "I know from first hand experience."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Oh my god..." Iffy ignores my question and continues eating pancakes. They looked really good. They were heart shaped, covered in red syrup, had cherries and strawberries. An explosion of red. Iffy notices me staring at her plate. "You want a taste, don't you?"

"Not necessarily." I look down at where my steak _should_ have been. Instead there was an empty plate. "Neptune..."

"DE-LISH!"

"I'd like a bite of your food, Iffy. If you please." Iffy sighs and cuts be a piece of the pancake. She sticks the piece to the fork as well as a cherry.

"H-Here." She held out her fork to me, attempting to feed me.

"Thanks!" I go for the fork only to hit my head against a surface. That surface was the back of Neptune's head, who had taken my bite away from me.

"Hmmm. Could use more sugar."

"Neptune!" Both Iffy and I whisper yell.

"My bite..." I felt my stomach growl. "I'm so hungry..." I glance at Iffy pleadingly.

"Sorry Partner. I gave you an offer and you lost it. And it was such a great chance..."

"Ugh...Thanks a ton Neptune."

"You're welcome!" Neptune and I waited for Iffy to finish her pancakes to leave. As we left, the waiter patted me on the back. As a sign of pity.

Iffy and Neptune went ahead of me toward Compa's apartment, as I had to do some grocery shopping for Vert and myself. The shop was filled with even more decorations and it was getting a bit tiring. After that color overload, on the way home I saw something strange...something so strange I couldn't tell if it was real at first. Actually no, it was a pretty normal sight but it did make me feel a bit sad. Right outside of Compa's apartment building there was an entire bouquet of flowers thrown on the ground and a closed box of chocolates leaning against the side of the building. _I guess someone got dumped. Damn._ I picked up the bouquet and box with my free hand. _This shouldn't go to waste._

When I entered the apartment, everyone was in the living room, playing video games. They were so immersed that they didn't even hear me come in. I place the groceries on the counter and the first thing I do is place the flowers in a vase with water. Next I open the pretty large box of chocolates and find a note inside.

"To you, my friend. I hope you have a great holiday. Now I must be off to find soda!

To:Arc

From:MAGES."

"I'm sorry what?" _That girl somehow tracked me down, left the flowers and chocolate against the building and expected me to take it? Is she a genius or an idiot?_ There was a line left to read on the letter so I did just that.

"P.S. Don't tell the organization is gave you this. Or maybe you are the organization?! DUN DUN DUNNN"

"She wrote 'dun dun dun' idiot." I threw the letter in the garbage and withdrew the contents of the box. Inside were five smaller boxes of chocolates. _How convenient. And they are all color coded. Great._

I strolled into the living room with four boxes of chocolate in hand. "Woah, what do you have there, Cutie?" Vert was the first one to notice I was back. Probably because she was the only one not playing.

"Just some chocolate for you all."

"Chocolate?!" Neptune jumped up from the couch and began jumping up and down in excitement.

"Ok, calm down." I gave everyone their color coded boxes. purple for Neptune, green for Vert, blue for Iffy and pink for Compa. "Happy Valentines day, I guess."

"Awww. Thank you Arcy. I really appreciate it." Compa came up to me and hugged me. "I really needed it. Love you~"

"No problem, Compa." i hug her back.

"W-W-What?!" Iffy, Neptune and Vert yelled out.

"What?" Compa lets go of me and looks confusingly at the girls.

"When did you two become a-a-a..." Iffy kept stumbling over her words.

"Ohhh. Don't worry Iffy. I love Arcy as a friend. Not in a romantic way." Iffy sighs and smiles. "Hehe. Don't worry."

"Hmmm." Neptune hums. "Maybe you two would be a good couple." Compa blushes a bit. "Or maybe me!"

"No way! I think I'd be better." Vert interrupts. "After all, I do have the assets."

"I don't know. Arcy might be a lolicon." Neptune says happily.

"Ok, I think this joke has gone too far." Annoyance filling my voice. Everyone laughs at me.

"Sorry sorry. It was just so fun, Cutie."

"Please stop calling me that Vert." _Jeez. I never thought being the only guy would be so strange. I'm the punching bag._ "I went grocery shopping. So let's start dinner. I'm starving thanks to someone."

"Hey, it was me. What did you expect." _Good point._

And so Valentine's day, came and went. During dinner I couldn't help but feel a bit strange. And a thought popped into my head that never did. _I hope next year I'll have someone to spend this day with correctly..._ I looked at the girls around the table, as I wondered it. _Maybe I should step on a route...but who. Who do I care about._ And then I was struck in the face with a piece of chicken.

"HAHAHAHA!" All four of the girls laughed. _You know what, maybe not._


	12. Chapter 11

_**AN: First off, I want to apologize for two things. Number 1, I was only able to do one chapter for this cycle due to unforeseen family issues. Number 2, my one day lateness. This was due to my terrible memory, and forgetting to update yesterday. I knew I forgot something :P. Anyway, I will get three chapters out for the next cycle to make up for this time only having one, and I'll try to not forget to update anymore. Although it may very well happen, but if I don't update on Sunday, I will update on Monday. So, enjoy this one chapter...sorry.**_

* * *

"Yo, yo. Here I come. Have ya missed me? Cuz I'm back!" The Gold Man began, I don't even know if you could call it rapping, as I appeared in his world.

"..."

"Aww, come on man. We haven't seen each other in a while. Can't you be more enthusiastic?" I place my face into my hand and sigh.

"I'd rather not listen to your terrible rapping." The Gold Man pouts at my comment and shrinks into his seat.

"Well fine. Maybe I won't tell you anything today."

"That's fine with me." He shrunk even more.

"Y-You know, the King was a pretty cool guy."

"I hear." An awkward silence reached over us. The world turned dark after about ten minutes.

"Bye."

"Yup."

* * *

"What was that?" I whisper to myself. It ends up that I had fallen asleep on a train. The train to Lowee. Lowee is at the uppermost part of continent, meaning that it was by far the coldest country in the world. The capital is stuck in a non-stop winter. But it is quite beautiful.

I stretch in my chair and see that everyone in my party had also fallen asleep. I look out the window and am greeted by a sea of white. _Looks like we're already deep into Lowee's country. We're probably not to far away from the capital. Ten minutes at least._ "Hmmm." I heard Neptune hum under her breath. The purple haired goddess was sitting next to me. With her head inches from my shoulder. "So hungry..."

"We're almost there. Just hold on. Jeez." I whisper and I question why. _She can't even hear me. Why would I say that?_

Neptune's head ended up falling onto my shoulder. "Hmm...Arcy..." _W-What are you doing dreaming about me? Why am I getting nervous?!_ "Buy me pudding..." That sentence threw all of the nervousness out of me.

"Hey, wake up." I began poking at Neptune's cheek. She began moving around, unforgettably.

"N-No." She was honestly cute when she was like this. You know, when she isn't awake and annoying me. Her cute, struggling face made me chuckle a bit.

"What are you doing?" I heard a voice ask from ahead of me. I look up and see Iffy's pissed face.

"Why good morning Iffy. How'd you sleep?" Iffy shook her head a bit and cleaned the gunk out of her eyes.

"I slept pretty well for sleeping on a train. But what are you doing to Nep?"

"I'm trying to wake this slugbug up. But I swear she never does what I want her to do." I continued poking her cheek, she then began smiling and leaning into it.

"Pudding~ Pudding~ Go in my mouth~"

"This girl doesn't know when to quit." I said.

"Perhaps you should give her a smooch." I heard Vert say. She and Compa had woken up. They were both on the same row as Iffy. The train had a strange seating system. With two rows facing each other, one row with 2 seats and the other with 4. It really didn't make any sense to me. But then again, I don't know shit. "You know, you never did give her one back in Leanbox."

"I said I would only do that because I thought she was poisoned or something. Now she's just taking a nap."

"Oh~ You aren't in love with Neptune?"

"Absolutely not." I respond immediately.

"You are still on her route."

"I can't argue that..." I have no real idea what's with my relationship with Neptune lately, she's been strangely clingy and I honestly don't believe her excuse for following Iffy and I on Valentine's day. "Get me off this route!"

"But you and Nep-Nep are such a cute couple." Compa said with a giant grin on her face. "Just look how happy she is sleeping next to you." She did have a smile on her face while clinging on me. But I'm pretty sure it's because of her dream, not me.

"Just get on a different route." Iffy suggested. "Any route should be fine. You know, maybe one that is for your best friend, that helps you all the time, is super cute..."

"Compa?"

"Arcy, you idiot." All three of them said in unison.

"Why am I being treated like a butt monkey?" _I just wanted to be a normal adventurer, why am I stuck dealing with the goddesses that act nothing like goddesses._ I felt Neptune begin to move uneasily.

"Hm. Good morning." She looked up and noticed where her head was. She immediately sat up and pointed at me. "You didn't take advantage of my sexy loli body did you?"

"Not in a million years." Neptune pouted.

"Oh, so I'm not good enough for you, huh?" I slammed my face to my hand causing Neptune to laugh. "Jeez. I was just joking. You're always so serious. She slapped me on the back, making me cough in pain.

The train stopped moving, and the conductor spoke on the mic system. " **We have reached Lowee's capital. Please leave the train and go off on your business."** We began filling out of the train and were hit by a the chilling cold of Lowee.

"S-S-S-SOOOOO COLD!" Neptune yelled. The other girls were shaking in their shoes.

"Wait, why aren't you girls wearing any layers?!" I had brought a large black coat with me, knowing how freezing cold it was in Lowee. The girls we're wearing their normal clothes that consisted of hot pants, mini-skirts and a thin, thin dress. "Do you guys want to die?"

"I-I didn't know it'd be this cold!" Compa attempted to reason.

"I warned you guys about this!"

"S-Still." Vert's voice became all nasally.

"Dammit." I took off the coat and hung it around Vert's shoulders. "You owe me."

"Why thank you, Cutie."

"Do you want the coat or not?" Vert nodded and smiled at me. "Alright, first things first, we should buy some coats."

"You're buying, right Arcy? Achoo!" Neptune tried to tease me but it really didn't pack the same kind of punch with her nose turning red.

"I basically have to. Let's just go..." The girls followed me, when we left the train station, we saw a giant mall not three blocks away. _They know how to do business._

* * *

"This is so nice and fuzzy! Yay!"

"M-My wallet. I would give it a funeral but that costs so much." The girls had all bought rather expensive coats and boots. Vert had a long green trench coat that somehow was unable to contain her breasts, forcing her to wear it open around her chest. Much to the joy of a lot of people in the store. Neptune just put on a fuzzy light purple coat over her sweater dress, as well as some purple boots. Compa did the same, yet hers was pink. Iffy, the only person to pay for her own clothes, put a blue sweater on, and closed her jacket for once. She also put on normal black pants.

"Stop being a big baby. It wasn't THAT bad." Neptune attempted to reassure me.

"I'm completely broke! I don't have a cent on me! Where are we going to sleep? What are we gonna eat?! You didn't need to buy ten pairs of the same socks neptune!"

"They were cute tho." I was about to blow up at her, but her face of the last time that happened forced me not to. _Agh. Screw it._

'Now now, Neptune. Remember what we say when Cutie assist us."

"Fine. Thank you Mr. Arcy." Neptune said in a tired tone after Vert ordered her.

"Don't patronize me." I sigh and look off at the town. It looked like it came from a fairy tale. The houses all around were colorful and covered with snow. The people looked genuinely happy when they walked down the street. Unlike Leanbox where people were always in a hurry or Lastation where the people looked like they were busy and dying. "Lowee sure is doing nicely, huh."

"It is." Vert said. "To think these people would be so content with a Goddess that is so...lacking."

"Vert."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." Vert laughed off my glare. "But I have to say, I am a bit jealous. Why is this country alright while the others are so...screwed up?" That was a good question. Leanbox the outside looks fine but it has a lazy CPU, workers that regularly disobey the goddess and Arfoire trying to take over. Lastation has a CPU with no power, pollution that is taking over the country and Aviner. Lastly Planeptune has no CPU with her being...Neptune.

"Maybe their CPU is just better?" Neptune and Vert punch my shoulders.

"Be a little more sensitive Arcy."

"Yes, why do you think the Console war happened in the first place?"

"How many times do I have to say that I have no idea."

"Oh...Right." The both said.

"Why do you both look so disappointed?" I rub my shoulders then look out over the town. In the center of the town was a giant tower that had the design of a mushroom head at the top. "Guess that's the Basilicom."

"Then let's go meet this "perfect CPU" you love talking about so much." Neptune lead the charge, walking straight forward, not caring who was in her way.

"I didn't call her perfect." I reluctantly follow. _Every time we went to go meet the CPU we've been met by opposition. I wonder what'll happen this time._

We enter the basilicom and are greeted by a brown haired lady in a maid uniform. "Welcome to Lowee's basilicom. How may I help you?" Again, the basilicom had a fancy lobby. The main color this time was white, with trees decorating the interior and bookshelves all around.

"Ah, wow. Are you ok?" I ask the girl.

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"It's just...you sound like you're just forcing everything that you say." She didn't sound very enthusiastic. She sounded like she's just a voice actor who is phoning it in for the check.

"I get that a lot. Don't worry about it." She made me feel bad for even disturbing her.

"Whatever!" Neptune yells, pushing me out of the way. "We want to see the CPU!"

"Ok, I can do that." _Wait what?_ The maid typed a few buttons on the computer in front of her and then began walking towards the hallway to her right. "Follow me." All of us began walking behind her. The entire thing felt awkward. This was when I noticed something very strange.

"Vert. Why are you wearing glasses?" The woman had on green eye glasses that had no lenses ever since we went to the mall. "You need them?"

"Oh, Cutie. You truly don't understand?" _It's a stupid reason isn't it?_ "You see, these glasses are my disguise."

"What?"

"No one can recognize me wit these on! Genius plan, yes?"

"No. It's probably the worst disguise I've ever seen. Literally nothing changed about you."

"You know nothing." Vert disregards my criticism and walks up to Iffy to begin talking to her. _You should have just worn sunglasses. That would have been better._

We reached the CPU's room, instead of like Vert's room that looked normal, this CPU's room had a giant white door guarding it. "Holy cow! That's huge." Neptune yelled what we all were thinking.

"Yeah. We do have plans to renovate the Basilicom soon though." The maid opened the door and there we saw a short brown haired girl sitting on the bed in the middle of the room. She wore a short white dress that was held by two brown straps. It had four small brown xs going down the middle of her dress with a giant brown ribbon ending the row. The dress ended with a brown design with white crosses. Over her dress she wore a short coat white and blue quote with brown fur around her neck. She wore white, brown and blue shoes and had a white ribbon tied around her ankle.

"*Sigh* It's as bad as I thought." Vert said.

"Vert. Stop being rude." I respond. Vert nods and motions a zip on her mouth.

"What do you all need?" The CPU stands up off the bed and walks towards us. Her voice was quiet and low. She had a lot of posh in her voice.

"Well, we have a question." I respond. "Do you have any idea where-"

"Wait a second." The girl interrupts me. "I recognize you all." The girl stares at Neptune and smiles. "You must be Neptune."

"Huh? You know me?"

"Yes, I do." Suddenly a horde of guards wearing white suits burst into the room. "You are the evangelist of Momus that had almost destroyed Leanbox."

"What?!" We all yelled. The guards pointed their guns at us. _How the hell did they end up thinking WE were the bad guys?! Arfoire!_

"You are all under arrest for the attempted murder of Lady Green Heart and I, Lady White Heart." The girl, Lady White Heart, pointed at Neptune. "I won't allow you to win, Neptune."

"Dammit." I stand between Neptune and White Heart. _Is this girl still trying to win the console war? Are the goddess going that low?_

"Everyone, follow me!" We hear Vert say. Vert had run over to the window near White Heart's bed, taken out her spear and broke open the window. "I've always wanted to do this. Jump!" Vert jumped out of the window.

"What?!" White Heart yells.

"Lady Vert!" Iffy, with no hesitation followed her out.

"I-I guess I have to." Compa follows. I run to the window with Neptune behind me but stop before I jumped out. _Woah woah woah! We're like twenty stories high! When did we get so high?! I'd rather take my chances with-_

"Arcy! Lets gooooo"

"NOOOOO!" Neptune pushed me out of the window, putting me into a free fall. _I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna DIEEE!_

"I've got you." Neptune's mature voice reached my ears. She grabbed me right before I hit the pavement. "See, everything's fine." My voice wouldn't come out to give a good comeback. Neptune puts me on my feet and de-transforms. "There's Vert and the guys." Neptune points to the outskirts of town and we could see Vert, Iffy and Compa running into what seems to be a dungeon.

"Ahem. They've got the right idea. We can't stay in the Capital with the actual CPU on our backs. Let's go." Neptune and I run off, to catch up with the rest of the party. _Why the hell is the actual CPU against us now? And using their guards as well. Noire wouldn't even do that. Something's fishy._


	13. Chapter 12

_**AN: Hello! Here is the is the bi-weekly update with the extra from last week. Plz enjoy and review if you'd like. :)**_

* * *

"Holy crap it's freezing here..." The five of us ended up in a frozen valley that seemed to lead to a small village not too far from the main city. The valley was large and wide, with not a lot in it, just wide open areas of snow, that was very hard to walk in. The monsters around seemed to be pretty peaceful, as none of them came to attack us. They looked like snow cones and even a floating dolphin was there.

"At the very least it looks like we lost them." Iffy commented. She was right, however we couldn't let our guard down. It was still snowing and was pretty hard to see very far. Meaning they could still be around.

'But seriously, who just jumps out a window?! And with no warning at all." I say only to get a giggle out of Vert.

"I told you I always wanted to do that. Plus what other option did we have?"

"I don't know, if only we had two goddesses that could easily overpower body guards. Oh wait."

"But that would have shown my true Identity., Think about this logically, Cutie." Although I disagreed with Vert, her defense was rock solid. And from the way that White Heart had been acting, it seemed that she didn't know that Vert and Neptune were CPUs.

"Whatever." We continued walking until we reached a hill. On the other side was a small village. "We could hide there for the time-"

"There they are!" yelled a masculine voice behind us.

"Oh no! We've been spotted!" Neptune yelled. The girls all took out their weapons, ready to fight.

"Wait! Maybe we can reason with them." As I said this, one of the guards came up and summoned a dragon. "You've got to be kidding me!" The dragon roared and out came fire, coming directly at me.

"Watch out!" I was shoved down to the ground by someone behind me, who laid atop my back.

"Nep Nep. go!" Compa commanded Neptune.

"Nepatchu!" Neptune transformed and flew towards the dragon, cutting off its left hand in one swing.

I got up from the ground an looked at who had thrown me to the ground. It was a brown haired girl wearing a maid outfit. "Wait, it's you! The maid girl!"

"Hello. Nice to see you again." Her fake monotone voice grated me again. "I suggest that the five of you follow me."

"We can handle this." Neptune says confidently. Next thing we know the the other guards that were behind summoned their own dragons. In total there were about thirty dragons slowly marching toward us.

"Uhuhuhuhuh Nep! Let's go!" Compa immediately ran towards the town.

"I-I'mma go as well!" I ran behind her. _We're totally outnumbered, there is no way that we would win!_ I looked behind me and saw the rest of the girls running with us.

"RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN!" Neptune pulled ahead of myself and Compa. _What happened to all of your confidence, huh?!_

* * *

"I can't feel my legs..." We had run for about twenty minutes, and ended up in the middle of the small village. "Did we lose them?" I ask, with my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath.

"I hope so." Neptune had been laying down on the snow covered ground, completely exhausted.

"Why did you help us, miss?" Iffy asks the maid. The maid had been also catching her breath when Iffy asked her question.

"Well, first off. I'd like to formally introduce myself." The maid stood up straight and bowed respectfully to us. "My name is Financier, and I am Lady Blanc's personal maid. Pleasure to meet you all."

"Hello, that still doesn't answer our question." Iffy responded immediately. "In fact that makes me even more suspicious. Why would the CPU's personal maid betray her?" Financier nodded in agreement and turned around.

"If you all follow me, then I'm sure you will understand." Financier began walking towards a church that was visible from where we stood.

"Should we actually do this?" I whisper to Iffy.

"We don't really have a choice. She's the only clue that we have at the moment..." Iffy then fidgeted. "Y-You're a little close."

"Hm?" I was a bit close, whispering into her ear. "Oh, sorry." Iffy sighs as I move away.

"Ohohoho." Vert and Neptune laugh under their breath.

"S-SHUT UP!" Iffy yells at them. We walk up to the church, and sitting on the steps in front of it were two pink haired men talking to Financier. When we walk up, the two immediately jump up from the steps and walk directly towards Vert and Compa.

"Why hello there, ladies. It's a pleasure." The shorter one took Compa's hand and kissed it, while toe taller did the same with Vert.

"*Sigh* I knew this was going to happen." Financier took a seat on the steps of the church.

"Such beauty, such grace. The goddesses have truly blessed us, allowing us to meet the two of you." The taller brother said, gaining a blush from the two of the girls.

"Why do I feel like we're being ignored?" Neptune says.

"Cuz we are." iffy says. "B-But I'm cute...right?" Iffy and Neptune look at me.

"I'm kinda hungry. What should we do for dinner today?" I think out loud.

"Idiot." The both of them said.

"Huh?" I then notice one thing about the brothers. All the while they were talking to the girls, they weren't exactly looking at the girl's eyes exactly...and Neptune and Iffy didn't have the same "assets" as Vert or Compa. "Oh, they like the boobs." I say out loud, earning a punch in the gut from Iffy. "W-Why?!"

"You don't have to point it out! We knew!" Iffy yelled.

"Hm. Well, at least they have good taste." Vert comments. She really seemed to enjoy the attention, to no one's surprise.

"Wait a second! I'm awesome!" Neptune shouts as she begins to transforms. "There we go. My chest capacity has increased." The moment transformed Neptune the two began ogling on her.

"I-I'm sorry, beauty. We were fooled by your flat wall. To think that wall hid such bountiful objects." The shorter guy said with genuine sorrow.

"Hehe. it's only natural. Now, feast your eyes on my beauty." Neptune began striking poses, much to the brothers content.

"Two can play at that game, Neptune." Vert began to do the same and the two brothers seemed torn.

"This is not happening." I say under my breath. "We've reached a new low. Right, Iffy?" I look at her and she looks utterly destroyed. "Iffy?"

"I'm just a lonely flat wanderer of the world." I heard her say under her breath.

"Jeez. You're really bothered by your breast size Iffy?"

"It's always been on my mind, but I've never encountered this. Not until now..."

I place my palm to my forehead. "These guys are just boob loving pervs. You don't need to think too much of these guys." She still didn't change. "*Sigh* If it makes you feel any better, I don't really have any preference for breast size. But I am a bit more practical to the smaller size." _But I really couldn't care less._

"Really?!" Iffy's entire mood changed when I said this. "Are you sure? You don't like big ones?!"

"Well you changed really fast." Iffy doesn't even respond to that. _She's really waiting for an answer? Jeez. This is too much pressure for me._ "Like I said. I don't really care. I just have a little bias for the smaller side."

Iffy began giggling and smiled at me brightly. "I'm glad to hear that." Her smile left me a little flustered.

"U-Uh yeah. Sure." Iffy whispered something under her breath that I couldn't hear. "What was that?"

"..." She seemed to debate in her head what she was about to say. "Eh, screw it." Iffy took a deep breath and looked into my eyes. "I said that I've still got a chance. Get it?"

"Chance? Chance for what?"

"I knew it." Iffy didn't expand and went to the the group to stop their tom foolery. _I feel like I'm missing something. And why does it feel like I've opened a new route? How?!_ "Ok guys! Shut up!" Neptune transforms back, and Vert stops striking poses.

"B-But why?!" The taller guy said.

"We're here on serious business." Iffy responds.

"*sigh* Of course the flat one is the party pooper." The shorter one says. I half expected Iffy to punch him in the face. Instead Iffy looks over at me and smiles.

"Whatever you say, jackass. Financier, please show us inside." The six of us walk into the church, leaving the two guys there, stunned.

The inside of the church was really a mess, in fact it looked nothing like a church. There was two benches in the main hall of the church that held giant stacks of books, piles of crumpled up paper were scattered all over the place and there were snack wrappers all around. "This looks like what Neptune's home would be. But you know, without the whole book thing."

"Hey! I'm pretty smart!" Neptune says in response.

"Somehow, I have doubts you can even read."

"Meanie!" Neptune pouts and ignores me. In the far part of the church hall there was a giant bed and there seemed to be someone lying on it, reading a book. As we drew closer, we could see the the figure even more clearly. It was a short girl who looked extremely familiar. Brown hair, white and brown dress, weird handkerchief wrapped around their ankle.

"WHITE HEART!?" We all yelled in surprise.

"I'm trying to read." White Heart said quietly. She acted almost exactly like how she was in the capital although there were some small, yet important differences. She was more relaxed with the way she held herself. The White Heart we met in the capital had a aura of importance around her, like she was a leader. Something that every other CPU didn't have. She was also a bit more rude. Which pretty much solidified it to me what was going on.

"Arfoire is at it again." Financier nodded her head and White Heart looked up from her book.

"What are you talking about?" Iffy asks.

"Remember when Arfoire took Vert's powers and she was able to look like here when she transformed?" The girls all nodded while Financier and White Heart just looked at me with confused looks on their face. "Well, I think the same thing happened here. Arfoire must have taken White heart's powers enough to copy her." _I'm so smart._

"Eh. Sorta." White Heart says as she gets up from the bed. "But I really don't feel like it's necessary to explain the situation. But I can still transform." She picks up her coat off the floor and puts it on. "By the way, my name is Blanc. I'd prefer it if you called me that."

"Sure." i answer. Blanc nods her head and walks out of the church.

"So basically, you are the only person who know what happened to Lady Blanc, Financier?" Financier shakes her head.

"The two brothers also are part of our little resistance."

"SAY WHAT?!"

"How could two guys who are utterly obsessed with big boobs follow a fl-" Before I could finish my sentence a giant hammer flew past my head. An inch more to the right and I would have died.

"Say one more thing about my chest." It had been Blanc who had thrown the hammer. Her entire demeanor changed. Gone was the sarcastic quiet girl. Instead, there stood a girl who was steaming. Her eyes had become red in anger, her movements went from smooth and calculated to jagged. It was terrifying.

"S-Sorry." Blanc took a deep breath and returned to normal.

"As long as you understand. And that goes for you too, Thunder tits."

"Whatever could you be talking about?" Vert's breasts bounced when she responded, much to Blanc's displeasure. She finally left the church. "Well, she's not what I expected. You ok there, Cutie?"

"I-I think so." I looked to where the hammer landed and a crater had formed around it. "That would have killed me..."

"Well, that's what you get for talking bad about the flatties!" Neptune says, slapping my back.

"Like you're one to talk, traitor!" Neptune whistled and walked out of the church. "*Sigh* This is really grating me. I just want a break from this craziness."

"Ohh. Would you like a hug?" Vert offered.

"Ye- I mean no. I couldn't breath last time." Vert giggled.

"I know. But it was quite enjoyable. You're hyperventilation really made me feel...things." I could feel Iffy's glare.

"T-That wasn't my intention!" Vert giggled as she walked up to me. "W-What are you do-" Vert took me into an embrace, shoving my face right into her breasts. "MMM!" _Not again!_

"Oh Arc! You're so cute!" she dug my face deeper into her cleavage.

"Lady Vert." Iffy said sternly. Vert sighs and lets go of me. Giving me a chance to catch my breath.

"Oh, don't be a party pooper. Iffy." Iffy just looked at Vert with a slightly annoyed look. "*Sigh* I know, I know. I was simply teasing the boy. He is quite adorable."

"Lady Vert, I know Arc is adorable but that doesn't give you the right to hog him all for yourself." Iffy then seems to realize that I'm still in the room. "W-Wait! I didn't mean..."

"Oh Iffy. You should be more honest with yourself." Compa commented with a giant smile on her face.

"I-I am being honest!"

"Sure." Vert and Compa said in unison.

"What the hell are you guys even talking about?" I stand up.

"W-W-Well, you see...AH! I wonder what Neptune's doing?" Iffy runs out of the church.

"Why does Iffy always do that?"

"I feel sorry about Iffy." Vert says.

"Me too. To think he'd be this dense." Compa adds, nodding her head.

"Huh? But aren't people naturally dense cuz science?" The girls sighed and waved me off. "What'd I do?" I follow them outside, when we step out the church we come face to face with a giant blue mech followed by two bit type enemies. "Fuck"


	14. Chapter 13

"Shit!" The battle with the Mechs had already begun by the time that we had came out the church. Apparently the Mechs had just appeared, and the villagers were able to evacuate before things got ugly. Once I walked outside, a small bit enemy flew straight to me, pushing me back into a tree. "That shit is strong for it's size." Vert, Blanc and Neptune had begun taking care if the giant blue Mech. Blanc's battle style was pretty new to me. While Neptune was fast and Vert danced with her attacks, Blanc was very stiff. She moved slowly and took a lot of hits, however that didn't seem to bother her. _So she's the tank._

"Watch it!" The Bit had come for more and Financier had tried to warn me.

"Hehe. I can take care of one little Bit. **Projection: Dual Blades!** " I held out my hands, and what came out...was a puff of smoke. "Wait what?" The bit slammed into me once more, I could feel my ribs break with that strike. "Ugh. Fucking hell!"

"Watch it Arcy! For some reason we can't use our skills or items!" Neptune yelled.

"Oh thank you! You should have told me that a long time ago!" _Shit. There's nothing I could do then. Literally everything I do is a skill. I can't even punch these mechanical shits._ I tried to get up from the ground only to be hit with a giant wave of pain. _It really broke my ribs... God dammit._

The Bit rushed towards me again. _Am I really going to die from a fucking Bit? Jeez. I am useless._ "What the hell are you doing?" I look up and see a small girl take the hit for me. She immediately strikes back with a giant swing of her hammer. Completely flattening the Bit.

"Lady Blanc..." Blanc slams the hammer into the ground, keeping it up right. She then walks up to me and offers her hand.

"Get up." I take her hand, and am lifted up. Once I'm upright the pain becomes obvious. I could barely walk, let alone stay standing. Blanc notices my grimaced face and forces me to sit down. "You broke some bones... why didn't you say that before I picked you up?!" She began to get angry.

"Well, I don't want to be rude..." Blanc begins to shake with rage. The second bit comes flying over to us.

"Shit! It got away!" Iffy yells. I guess she was the one fighting that one. As it came towards Blanc and I, she turned around and punched it. It immediately turned into pixels. _W-What the hell?! This girl is crazy strong!_ She turned to me, with her eyes red with anger. _I'M NEXT!_

"Next time, fucking tell me what the hell is wrong! Got it you piece of shit!?" _Even her language changed! Shit!_ I nodded my head, and Blanc began to run towards the giant mech. She jumped into the air, and mid air she transformed. Her hair grew a short length and turned blue. Unlike the other CPU's she did not grow...anywhere. She stayed flat, and only grew maybe a couple of centimeters. She wore what looked like a white one piece swimsuit that had blue and black designs on it and white stockings with strange looking white shoes. She also wore detached sleeves that connected to pretty large gauntlet. Two light blue W shaped wings floated behind her. Lastly, her hammer had transformed into a futuristic ax. "DIE!" She brought down that ax and cut the Mech perfectly in half before it burst into a sea of pixels.

"WOAH! AMAZING!" Neptune yelled. She had stars in her eyes, clearly excited. When Blanc touched the ground she turned back to normal, and sighed.

"That was a hassle." She brushed herself and returned to her normal quiet self. "It must have been that impostors work. Fucking bitch."

"Well, at least we were able to gauge your strength." Vert commented, getting Blanc's attention. "You did pretty good...for a little girl."

"You wanna die bitch?!" Neptune had to hold back Blanc from smashing Vert's head in.

"How scary. Very well, I apologize. You aren't a little girl." Blanc calmed down. "More like a little boy."

"YOU CUNT!" Neptune lost her grip of Blanc and Vert had to run from her. _So all the CPUs are un-goddess like, eh. I don't know if that's disappointing or... no it's disappointing._

"Um. Can I get some help here?" I call out to them. That was when they all noticed that I was still lying near the trees. Iffy was the first to run over to me.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry! I didn't notice you were hurt, I woulda-"

"It's alright Iffy." I try to reassure her. "It's my fault for not being able to lift my own weight." Iffy puts my arm over her shoulder and lifts me up off the ground. "Gah..."

"Arc!" Iffy begins to fidget. "What should I do? What should I do?" She begins to whisper to herself.

"Iffy, calm down." Vert walks over to us and puts her hand on Iffy's head. But she didn't seem to notice or care. "W-What?! Could her love for Arc outweigh her love for me?"

"What are you even talking about?" I ask.

"So dense." Vert sighs and motions over Compa.

"I'm getting tired of you guys calling me dense!" In the corner of my eye, I see Blanc begin to take down notes. "What are you-"

"Neptune! I need your help." Compa says when she come to me.

"Nepu?"

"I need you to resuscitate Arcy."

"Got it!"

"WAIT WHAT?!" Before I could react, Neptune runs over and head butts me directly in the stomach. _CRITICAL HIT!_

"Arc! Nep what the hell are you doing?!" Iffy woke up once she realized I wasn't in her arms anymore. I land on the ground and could feel my consciousness fading.

"C-Compa. Why?" I ask.

"This way it doesn't hurt as much. _What hurt? WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?!_ Before I could react, I fell into the darkness of sleep.

* * *

"..."

"Well well well. Look who it is. That was a really amazing fight, man." Goldman says, teasing me.

"Oh shut it." I sat down on the ground. Here, I didn't really feel anything. Guess it's because it's a dream. "Just tell me about the king."

"Very well. What do you want to know?"

I thought for a minute. "So, how did the king defeated the first Goddess exactly?" The goldman stood up from his chair and began to jump around with excitement.

"Yes~ Yes~ Man, you are gonna love this part." The Goldman sat back in his seat and crossed his legs. "The King, Gilgamesh if you would, had been revolting against the first goddess for about two years before she was defeated. It wasn't an easy fight either."

"Hmm. sounds like something that would be pretty common knowledge then." The Goldman laughed.

"Jeez, kid. Remember what I said. History is forgotten. After all, that is the reason why I'm here." Goldman, cleared his throat. "Now then, as I was saying, as the King had fought through the Goddesses army, he began taking territory. By the time the final battle was going to happen, the only land that wasn't under his control was the capital of the world. Which you all know right now as the Gamindustri Graveyard." That story was pretty believable. The Gamindustri Graveyard laid in the center of the continent and was surrounded by mountains with it's only entrance being from right at its front which was a beach.. It was a very large piece of land, enough to have it's own country. Unfortunately it was just a giant junkyard that is riff with monsters. No normal person has set foot on that land and live to tell the tale.

"Is that why it's such a terrible place now?"

"No...that comes afterward.' Goldman lost all of his excitement. "It's quite possibly the King's largest mistake. Possibly the reason why he is forgotten now." Goldman shook his head rapidly and slapped his knees. "But that's whatever."

"I don't know about you but that seems like a way more interesting story!"

"No."

"C'mon!"

"No." He was acting like a petulant child. "It's my story. I can tell it in the way that I want." He poutd. "Meanie."

"Don't turn into Neptune." He laughed and seemingly smiled at me. I really couldn't see his facial features but it felt like he did.

"You mean the girl you desire to protect?"

"W-What are you talking about?!" I felt heat rise into my face. "I couldn't careless about that girl. It'd just be really inconvenient if she were to kick the bucket."

"Oh right. Sorry. I forgot that Miss IF has that spot taken."

"W-Why do you continue to spout out such crazy statements?!" He was definitely smiling now. I'm glad I couldn't see his probably shit eating grin.

"What are you, a lolicon?"

"You wanna die?" He burst into laughter, so hard that he fell onto the ground.

"S-Stop! I can BREATH! AHAHAHAHAHA!" _This fucking guy._

"How the hell am I a lolicon?"

"W-Wait! Kahaha!" He continued for about two minutes. After he finished laughing, he sat back in his seat. "Woah. That was, haha! Hilarious. Anyway, the two closest girls to you are lolis, you perv."

"I really couldn't care less about shit like love!" _I wouldn't consider Iffy a loli...she's just flat._

"Sure."

"You..."

'Who knows, you may meet a perfectly normal girl soon. Cough cough Noire cough cough."

"Don't say cough you idiot. And stop playing matchmaker with me! I just want to be the neutral main character!" I felt strangely frustrated. "Plus, it's not like those three even see me as anything."

"*sigh* I truly feel sorry for them. So what is it that you want? A harem?"

"NO!" _Why am I stuck with this guy? I just wanted a normal, quiet life._

"Alright. I'm just joshing you man." _Only you and Neptune fucking say Joshing._ "But, it's time for you to wake up anyway. I would have told you more but you had to make us sidetrack."

"Don't you put that on me!" The world grew dark.

* * *

When I opened my eyes I was faced with a purple haired girl over me, looking around the room. She then apparently found what she was looking for. "Sweet a cheeseburger." She reached over me and took a cheeseburger and took a bite. _What the fuck?_ That was supposed to be out loud. _Wait, why can't I talk?_

"Neptune. Have you taken of Arc's bandages?" Compa asked from another room.

"I'll do it now!" Neptune then finally looked down at me. "Oh! Well good morning, did you dream of gumdrops and jellybeans?" I mumbled _Take this off of my mouth Neptune!_ She did as I asked and ripped off what seemed to be a giant band-aid.

"OW! WHY?" At the sound of my voice, I heard stomping come from the outside of the room. Slamming open the door was Iffy.

"Arc...you're ok!" Iffy immediately ran next to the bed and grabbed my head. Pulling me into her chest. "I thought you were done for..."

"Iffy, what are you-" The Goldman's voice rang through my head.

 _A harem eh?_

"NO!" I shot up, pulling myself from Iffy's hug and stood up on the bed.

"Arcy?" Neptune asked. I looked down at the two of them and realized what I did.

"O-Oh. Sorry. I had a weird dream is all.' I sat back down on the bed. I looked to my right and was shot with a bullet of guilt. Iffy's face was of utter depression. "I-Iffy?"

"Nothing. I'm just happy you're ok." She got up from her seat and began to leave the room.

"Aww. Don't be a party pooper. You know Arcy, didn't mean it." Neptune backs me up.

"Yea, sorry Iffy." It takes Iffy a while, then she turns around to me and gives me a bright smile.

"Alright. But you better make it up to me." She walked out of the room, pretty chipper. I looked around the room and got a good look at where I was. It looked like I was in an old room that was just cleaned. I was probably in a side room of the church that Blanc lived in. I slept in a futon, that laid in the middle of the room with a chair on each side of it, that looked really familiar. I recognized the green stain that was next to where my pillow rested. It smelled like tea. _This is probably Blanc's futon. I'm gonna need to thank her._

"Man, you won't believe how worried Iffy was about you. She was crying and hollering for a whole two days!" Neptune took another bite from the cheeseburger.

"Two days?! How long was I out?!"

"Two days and a half." _That explains why the dream with Goldman lasted so long._ "Like C'mon man. Why would you sleep so long. We got stuff to do."

"Aww. Don't talk like that Nep. You know you were worried too!" Compa walked into the room with a first aid kit in her hand.

"I did not! What do you take me for, a lonely black haired CPU?"

* * *

 _ **Somewhere in Lastation...**_

"Achoo!" A black haired girl sneezed.

"Are ya ok?"

"I'm fine, Chian. I just feel like someone was talking about me for a second..."

"Maybe it was that weak dude you can't stop talking about." The blue haired girl responded, looking up from her computer.

"W-W-What?! I don't talk about Darl- I mean Arc at all!"

"Were you about to call him-"

"S-SHUT UP!"

* * *

"What was with that tangent?"

"What are you talking about Neptune? You just stopped talking for five minutes. Are you ok?" I asked. Neptune shook her head and stuffed the rest of the cheeseburger into her mouth.

"As I was saying, I wasn't worried about Arcy."

"But you wouldn't leave that seat no matter what we did..." Compa responded.

"Cuz I was lazy!"

"But you kept whispering to yourself about something like 'I shoulda kept an eye on him' or something like that." Neptune shook her head again.

"Not necessarily."

"*Sigh* Neptune is not gonna admit to anything. Which is strange. You'd think that the girl who can't live without attention would do anything for it." Neptune pouted at my response and punched me in the arm lightly.

"It's only natural for the protagonist to get all the attention."

"For the last time, I'm the protagonist."

"HAHA. No." _Why you-_

"Can I just do a check up on Arcy, please?" Compa asked. Not even waiting for a response, she walked over to my right, sat down and threw off my shirt. _WHAT THE- oh wait, my ribs broke. It's only natural she'd take off my shirt._

"KAHAHA! Arcy, you don't even have a single muscle on your body!" Neptune ridiculed.

"Aww. C'mon. Why do you have to- why is your nose bleeding?" She had blood gushing out of her nose.

"No reason! I'm gonna go take care of this!" Neptune ran out the room. _That girl is getting stranger and stranger with every passing day._

"Hmmm." Compa said from my right. The girl was inspecting my chest and feeling around my stomach. "Looks like you're all healed up! You weren't joking when you said that recover really fast Arcy! I'm glad you're better."

"Yeah..." I looked down at my body and it was covered in bandages. I could see in the corner of my eye, a trash can filled with bandages with red markings on them. "Did you do any treatments on me?"

"A bit." Compa admitted. Putting everything back into her first aid kit. "I had to check that you weren't bleeding internally so I poked around a bit."

"Excuse me?! I thought you were just a nurse!"

"A nurse in training!" Compa puffed up her cheeks. "But I did read a book on how to do surgery in an old abandoned church." _What kind of medical book is that specific!?_ "But everything went fine! Blanc was there to coach me through it." _That doesn't make me feel better!_

"Speaking of Blanc, I haven't seen her nor Vert anywhere. I'm sure Vert would have loved to come here and teased me to death." _I barely know the woman and she has smothered so many times...I mean it's not THAT bad._

"Oh right!" Compa clapped her hands together. "Vert told me to take you to her when you woke up! Come on." Compa grabbed my hand and begun to pull me out of bed.

"Let me at least put on a shirt first! Compa!" The pink haired airhead just kept pulling. "W-Wait!"


	15. Chapter 14

I stood in front of a normal room yet I could feel this strange aura coming from the inside. "W-What's going on here?"

"I don't know. I just know that that's where Vert is. In ya go!" Compa opened the door and forced me in.

"Wait!" Before I could react I was already in the room and the door was shut. "Um..."

"Why hello, Cutie. It's nice to see you're better. I was quite worried." I turned around and found Vert and Blanc having tea on a table in the middle of the room. "Would you like to join us?" Blanc didn't say a word, she simply took another sip of her tea.

"S-Sure." I awkwardly walk to the only open seat at the table, which was in the middle of the two of them. I sat down and couldn't help but shrink in my seat.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" Vert said getting really close.

"I guess so." Vert poured me a cup of black tea and pushed it to me.

"Here you go. Vert just continued to look at me with a bright smile that didn't really seem real to me. "So Arcy..."

"What is going on here?" Why would two of the world's most powerful people just happen to be having tea together when I wake up and want a meeting with me. A literal nobody.

"What, I can't hang out with you? I thought we were friends?"

"Is that the only reason?" Vert hesitated for a moment and Blanc set down her cup.

"We want you to tell us the state of the world." Blanc said. "We've been gone for a long time, and this world doesn't seem to be...stable at the moment."

"That's an understatement. But why would you ask me?" I relax at knowing the truth. I couldn't care less if they just wanted info from me, as long as they were truthful about it. "I'm not the most cultured and smart person in the world."

"That's exactly why we are asking you." Blanc's serious tone turned a bit sorrowful. "You don't have any family nor friends, and you don't follow any of us goddesses or are a part of any country. You have no bias and you don't see 'Loweeians' or 'Planeptuneians' you just see people." I couldn't help but feel a little bad for myself when she listed all of that. _No friends, huh. They could tell that much?_

"That still doesn't tell my why you just didn't ask Iffy." Vert sighed and put her hand to her cheek.

"Because Iffy does have bias. To Leanbox and me. Not only that, but she's the kind of girl who only cares about her objective. She has a habit of not looking at her surroundings. Neptune's poisoning was a perfect example of that." She has a point. Iffy's straight forward, she gets information but only info that concerns her. She's kinda admirable that way. At least she knows about the lore of this world more that I do.

"Fine. What do you want to know?" Blanc and Vert are silent for a couple seconds.

"I'd like to know if the people are happy." Blanc says after some consideration. Vert nods.

"I don't think so." Vert and Blanc both look like they were punched in the stomach. "The world isn't in that great of a condition. Especially because of the fact that you guys have been gone for hundreds of years."

"Hundreds? Were we gone for that long?" Vert asked Blanc. Blanc only gave her a shrug.

"What? You don't remember how long you guys have been fighting? Damn." However my question was immediately shot down by Vert.

"To tell you the truth, we don't even know of we even participated in the war."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Well..It's like-"

"What she's trying to say is that we don't remember anything from the war." _WHAT?! Wasn't the war fought in order to become the "best" goddess?!_

"W-W-Wait, why don't the only participants of the Console War remember only being in the Console War?!" The two of them shrug. "Do you guys have amnesia like Neptune?"

"Well, not necessarily." Vert pinches the bridge of her nose. "We remember most of our lives before the Console War. We know it happened but we can't seem to remember anything that happened. Not even how we ended up back here."

Blanc nods and adds "The only thing that we remember was-" Vert hold her hand out to Blanc. Signaling to stop.

"Now now, Flaty. Let's not give Cutie the whole story now. He knows as much as he needs to right now." Blanc glared at Vert who only sipped her tea.

"What, your gonna leave me out?! Really? Can you at least tell me why you guys started fighting in the first place?"

"..."

"..."

"I guess you don't remember." Both of them nod. "Well, at least you guys get along now."

"Hehe. Well, maybe that has to do with you." Vert says.

"I doubt it." I get up and stretch only to be pulled into a smothering. "M!" NO!

"Hehe. You're so cute~ Why don't you become my little brother?" _Why must you keep teasing me like this, woman?!_ As if she read my mind, Vert pulled me deeper into her bust.

"*sigh* I truly hate Thunder Tits." Blanc says, pouring another cup of tea for herself.

* * *

"Arcy, you've got to have more breathe more. You're wounds might be healed but you still need to stay healthy." Compa had evaluated me again after I had left the room with Vert and Blanc.

"I would love to breathe normally. You have no idea Compa." Compa only smiles, with my joke, if you could even call it that, flying over her head. "Whatever."

"Hey, Compa. Do you know where the shov-" Iffy walked into the room, with snow covering a lot of herself. "O-Oh. Hi there Arc. Feelin better?"

"Hm? Yea. Sorry about what happened earlier." Iffy nods her head and shakes the snow off her coat.

"Now that you're up and about we should plan out what we're gonna do next." Iffy walks to Compa and sits next to her, she sits directly in front of me.

"Well, has the fake Blanc done anything in the last two days?"

"Well, sorta. We've gotten word that she is gonna show up here soon." This is some pretty huge info. "The villagers have begun to fix up the village. After all they can't show that they're holding the rebellion." Right. Fake Blanc doesn't know that this is where our Blanc and the rest of her supporters are. They only know we're here. Hell, the Mechs from a couple days ago were probably sent here to kill us, not them.

"Hmm. I have an idea. But we're gonna have to-"

"They're here!" The older perv guy yelled from the entrance of the church.

"Welp. Looks like we're gonna have to wing it." I stand up from the bed and move out of the church. "Make sure Vert, Neptune and Blanc come out to."

"Arc wa-" I didn't wait for Iffy to argue. I walked out of the church and am greeted by the fake Blanc and a small army of guards.

"I knew you'd be here." Fake Blanc said. "If I remember correctly your name is Arc. Correct?"

"Yup. It's nice to have a 'goddess' remember my name." I made sure to put emphasis in the word goddess in a hope to get a reaction out of her. I got nothing.

"Tell me. Are you the leader of your group of Momus worshipers?" _So she's still holding onto that, eh?_

"First off, I don't have the skills necessary to be an effective leader. And secondly, we're not Momus worshipers. We really couldn't care less about your fight against them. We just wanted to ask you some questions." Fake Blanc shook her head.

"We have evidence that-"

"Yada yada yada. Arcy, you gotta tell me when you're hitting on other girls ya know!" Neptune walked out of the church first. "Are you cheating on me?!" She fakes tears.

"*sigh* Why am I always the butt of your jokes, Neptune?"

"Hehe. You said butt." _This girl._

"As I was saying, we have evidence that this girl," Fake Blanc pointed at Neptune, "poisoned Green Heart and is a high ranking official in the Momus organization."

"That's the opposite of what happened!" Neptune yelled. "Well, Vert didn't do it but still.I had a near-pudding experience."

"Oh my god...It's near-death Neptune."

"Near-death what?"

"It's near-death experience! Not near-pudding, that's just stupid!"

"You're stupid. I'm hungry. "

"Don't call me stupid! I'm not as stupid as you, stupid!"

"Huh?! You wanna have a stupid fight, stupid?!"

"You little-"

"Would you two shut the fuck up!?" Blanc, who sounded delightfully angry, said from behind us. "Holy fuck! Get a fucking room."

"First rule of stupid club is never talk about stupid club, Blanc." Neptune turned around to say this to Blanc. Blanc wasn't the only one there. It was her and the rest of the crew. She just happened to be the one in front.

"..." Blanc ignored her and made a B line to the fake Blanc. "Good. You've finally showed up. Now then, LET ME KILL YOU!" Blanc summoned her hammer from thin air and struck her clone with an overhead attack. The fake Blanc was pulled out of the way by one of guards and the attack whiffed. "Tch. What the hell are you guys doing?! You know I'm the real Blanc right?!"

"Lady?" One of the guards began to walk over to her.

"No! Are you an idiot? She's trying to trick you. I'm the real Blanc." The guard stopped and looked back and forth at the two of them.

"Ummm."

"Seize the faker and the worshipers of Momus!" The moment the fake Blanc yelled those orders, most of the guards followed it.

"Shit!" I grabbed Neptune's hand and ran to the left. "Guys, split up! We can't start a giant fight in the middle of the village!" iffy and Compa ran after me, Vert and Blanc ran to the right. I was able to make eye contact with Vert. _Now's the chance._ I mouthed "Go home"

Vert didn't react, only ran with Blanc out of the village. "Why'd you mouth that to Lady Vert?" Iffy asks as we run as fast as we can.

"You saw that, huh? Well, I did that because we can't have the active leader of a nation get caught up with our stupid adventure. Don't you think?"

"..."

"Our fight for Histoire is our problem. Not hers."

"Now now, Arcy. What if Histy is the savior of the world?" Neptune asked.

"Still our problem. And please stop dragging your feet! We're trying to run for our lives!" Neptune puffed up her cheeks in anger and began to finally run.

"Fine. Meanie."

"G-Guys! They're gaining up on us!" Compa yelled. I looked back and she was right. All of the guards that had followed fake Blanc's order had come after us.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me!" I suddenly felt the arm that I was holding onto change in length. Neptune had transformed.

"Everyone, grab onto me!" Compa held Neptune's free hand and Iffy grabbed onto her shoulder. "Hang on tight!" Neptune flew high into the air, triggering the fear of heights I didn't know I had.

"F-F-Fucking hell! Take us down! Take us down!" I yelled.

"Arcy, stop moving around! You'll fall."

"Please, please, please! I don't wanna die!"

"FINE!" Neptune dropped down into a small clearing in the middle of a small forest. "Jeez. You really are a coward."

"C-Come on. Don't be mean about it." I immediately grabbed onto a tree and take a couple deep breaths.

"Nepy. Don't be mean to Arcy. He's just a normal guy, remember?" Compa began to pat my head. Honestly it did help.

"*sigh* He always comes at me for just acting like myself and he goes and does this."

"But isn't it adorable? Just look at his cute teary eyes!"

"I'm not cute..." Neptune glanced at me.

"Perhaps."

"He's definitely adorable!" Iffy says in a strangely serious tone. _This shit again?_

"You've certainly become more bold, haven't you?" Neptune asks Iffy.

"Well, yeah...I guess so."

"I wonder..."

"..." _Why are they staring at each other? What's going on?_

"Fair and square?"

"Fair and square." _What?_

"You all truly are getting on my nerves." A familiar voice sounded from the woods. "I think it's time that I finally get rid of you, NEPTUNE!" The person was a transformed Blanc. A Blanc that was hostile and clearly wanted us all dead.

"Just try me. Faker!"


	16. Chapter 15

_**AN: Hey there. Sorry for the one day delay, it sorta slipped my mind again. Sorry! But anyway, here we go.**_

* * *

Fake Blanc flew over to Neptune and brought down her hammer onto Neptune's head. The attack was so slow that Neptune was able to dodge out the way, leaving her with enough counter attack. Neptune slashed at fake Blanc's back. The attack didn't even phase her though. "What?!"

"This is my power, Neptune!" Blanc swung her ax in a circular arc, forcing Neptune to fly in order to dodge. "Kahahah! What's wrong Neptune? I didn't even feel that!" Neptune sucked her teeth and flew down to clash with Blanc, their weapons creating sparks with every clash. _How the hell are we supposed to fight a tank? SNEAK ATTACKS!_

"Ok... _ **Projection: Dual Blades**_." Two shark tooth swords appeared in my hands as I summoned them. I let go of the tree and tiptoe my way over to Blanc's blind side, her back. "Here goes nothing. HAH!" I brought down the two swords with all of strength, only to have them bounce right back to me. "You gotta be kidding me!"

"Damn bug." Blanc pushed Neptune away and swung her ax at me. Instinctively, I brought the two swords together to block the attack. The moment the ax came in contact with the swords, they broke into millions of pieces with the force blowing me back several meters. _WHAT! That's never happened to me!_ "Tch. Just die!" Blanc was however distracted when a magic circle appeared below her. "Not this shit again!" She flew away from it and right into Neptune's attack. Again, the attack didn't even phase her.

"Dammit. This is gonna be hard, isn't it." Blanc manically laughed and punched Neptune right in the kisser, blowing her back through multiple trees. "C-Crap." _Are we actually gonna lose here? She's such a tank. If Neptune can't even dent her, what are the rest of us supposed to do?_ I struggle to stand up, when I do, I notice that I'm suddenly surrounded on all sides by strange monsters. They were weirdly fat floating dragons that were blue and black, and axes in their hands.

"H-Hey there guys. How ya do-" One of the dragons swung its axe at me, forcing me to tumble backwards. "Not willing to talk, eh." I back up against the tree and took a look at my surroundings. Iffy and Compa were dealing with their own group of monsters and Neptune was fighting a losing battle against the Fake Blanc. _Shit shit shit shit shit! What am I supposed to do?_ " **Projection: Dual Blades** " The instant the swords fell into my hands three of the dragons charged at me. "Aw come on!" I ducked and one of the dragons ax was lodged into the tree. I rolled under another swing from the second dragon. The last one came with an overhead swing, allowing me to parry is attack with the sword in my left hand and stabbing it in between the eyes with my right sword. The dragon burst into pixels and dropped some coins. "One gone, twenty to go. Fuck." I was then stuck in the back, I looked behind me and one of the dragons had thrown it's ax, sinking it in my shoulder. "GOD!" My swords dropped to the floor and dissipated, leaving me defenseless and with a ax stuck inside of me. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck."

"..." They began swarming towards me slowly. Their dead eyes staring into my soul.

"L-Leave me alone. Dammit!" I looked behind them. Compa and Iffy were still too busy to look at me as well as Neptune. "Stop it. STOP!" There was no escape. I was going to die. _N-No! I don't want to. No no no no NO NO!_ "Help...please."

"You rang?" The dragons almost instantly burst into pixels. Leaving only small piece of cash where they floated before. "Are you alright, cutie?" Looking up I was greeted by a green haired maiden with very little clothing and what could only be described as gigantic knockers. "You're hurt." Concerned, the woman, Vert, looked at my wound and yanked the ax out of my back.

"AGH!"

"Sorry. But if I left it in there, who knows what would have happened. Compa, honey?" Compa almost immediately appeared next to Vert.

"When?" That was when I noticed something strange. There were two Lady white hearts in the battle now. And one of them was getting absolutely destroyed by the team of Neptune, White Heart and Iffy. "What are you d-doing here Vert? I told you to-"

"I can't very well leave you when I know you're in trouble. You're my adorable little brother after all!" As Vert said things that made no sense, Compa began to patch me up.

"You get hurt to much Arcy."

"I know...I'm sorry." _Why am I even here? All I do is get my ass kicked. I don't do shit!_ I looked up at Vert. Half expecting her to tease me for my weakness. Instead I was given a look of absolute worry and regret.

"I should have come faster. I apologize." Vert transformed back to her normal self and took out a neckerchief. She then dabbed it on my cheek. "You've got some blood there..."

"Oh..." _What the hell is wrong with these goddesses? Why are you worried about me?_

"Everything ok?" A quiet voice called out to us. Looking over Vert shoulder I saw Neptune and blanc, who were back to normal, and Iffy holding another key fragment in her hand.

"Yes, Our group Cutie just got himself hurt again." Vert stood up and smiled brightly. "But he's fine now."

"..." Compa finished patching up the wound and started saying things that I didn't pay attention to. They continued to talk, making jokes and just having a good time. Like that life threatening fight didn't even happen. That's when it hit me. It didn't mean much to them, they could have lost but with very little damage done. Hell, Iffy and Compa, normal people would have been fine. I was the weak link. The only one actually in danger. No wonder I was always getting my ass saved. "I'm sorry." I blurt out.

"Hmm? For what?" Neptune asks.

"For being useless, obviously. I can't do jack shit for you guys." The girls all fell silent. "Why do you guys even keep me around?"

"Well, it helps to have someone to pay for everything." Compa says after a few seconds of thinking.

"You're a good butt monkey for all our jokes." Iffy responds.

"Your injury time lets me read." Blanc says absentmindedly.

"You're adorable." Vert begins dancing. "And your my little brother!" _No I'm not. So i'm here for stupid reasons like-_

"Cuz your my friend." Neptune says bluntly. "Just cuz you suck doesn't mean you're not the best." Neptune giggled and started walking towards town. "Let's just go! I'm hungry."

"..." _What?_

"HAhaha!" The girls all burst out laughing. "Looks like that girl is serious when she wants to be." Vert comments. "Maybe you should have actually answered Iffy. I think Neptune just got a head start on you."

"Damn. You're right. I was to weak! Never again. I'm not losing to you Neptune." Iffy stretches and glances at me. Then doing a double take. "You're blushing..."

"What?" I instinctively put my hand to my face. I could feel heat radiating off my cheeks. "I guess I am..." _I wonder why._

"N-No! I can't lose right now! Arcy, you know I was joking when I said what I said, right?"

"You were?"

"Oh course! You're super important to me! I L-L-L-L-" Iffy suddenly began stuttering and flinching. "I CAN'T SAY IT!"

"*sigh* These girls." Blanc said as she began to follow Neptune out of the forest. "Now that that impostor is gone I've got some work to do. I'll see you guys later."

"*Yawn* I'm getting tired as well. I think we should head back to the little church. We need to rest up and make sure that Cutie here doesn't have an infection."

"Wait...if Iffy was joking, then were all of you guys lying as well?" My self esteem was getting the better of me.

"Of course." Compa and Vert said.

"Now then, lets go. We don't want Neptune to end up starting something in the village again." Vert took my arm and threw it over her shoulder. "Will this be ok Cutie? Quite the view right?"

"Well..." Vert giggled and dragged me back to base.

* * *

"Sooooo, what exactly happened to the fake Blanc?" I asked during dinner. The five of us were enjoying the joys of microwavable dinners after a long day of almost death.

"She just sorta disappeared." Neptune's voice was a bit distorted by the mouthful of mashed potatoes she had.

"Oh my god Neptune. That's disgusting." Regaining my senses I asked the only question that was in my mind. "I thought that it was Arfoire who was pretending to be Blanc. Are you saying that wasn't the case?"

"Nope." Iffy responded this time. "After Blanc went just completely insane and beat the shit out of the fake she just died like any other monster in the world and dropped a Key Fragment." _Is it possible that Arfoire is able to create copies of the CPUs using Key Fragments? What are these things exactly and why is it that both the mysterious Histoire needs them and Arfoire has them._

"Neptune, how many Key Fragments did you say we needed?"

"Four. So one left to go. The only place that we haven't gotten one from was..."

"Lastation." _Are the Key Fragments connected to the four countries? What the hell is going on? Why does it feel like I'm the only one who is out of the loop?_ "Whatever...looks like we're gonna give Lady Noire another visit. Hopefully she doesn't pick another fight."

"You could just beat her like you did last time! Oh wait, ya got lucky buster. Ohohoho!" I couldn't argue with Neptune there. I just happened to be the person who got the last hit. Basically a kill steal. _And there goes my self esteem again._

"*sigh* I just wanna get this shit over with already. I'm to normal for all of this."

"But that's what makes you so unique!" Iffy attempted to cheer me up.

"Being normal is unique? If so then it's just because you guys are so weird." Complete silence.

"SAY IT AGAIN!" The front door of the church suddenly was burst open with a pink haired man being sent threw it. "CALL ME FLAT ONE MORE TIME MOTHERFUCKER!"

"Oh it's Blanc. Lovely." Vert's fake enthusiasm reflected all of our feelings. "Please refrain from causing property damage. Little miss-"

"Vert."

"Fine..." Blanc walked in dragging another pink haired male behind her who looked very much unconscious. "The boobie lovers. I see they made you aware of your 'Situation' again?"

"I'll punt your head in bitch." Blanc dropped the man and took a seat around the table, joining us.

"Well then, Lady White Heart, what brings you here today?" I try to sound as respectful as possible.

"How's your wound doing?"

"Huh? Oh, that. Yeah, Compa really saved my ass again. Apparently it's already closed and is half way to healing. My weird body is probably the reason for the fast recovery."

"Perhaps we should research your body. Could be good for medicine." I heard Compa say under her voice.

"Compa no!"

"Hehe~ I'm kidding." _The way you hold that giant syringe of yours begs to differ._

"That's good to hear. Very well, I've decided to join your quest."

"I'm sorry, what mate?"

"I said I've decided to join you. Vert told me all about what you guys are doing before we came to help earlier. Plus, I've gotta repay you guys some how. Correct?" We all fell silent. Sure a third CPU would be an amazing addition the the group. But she also just got back her county.

"I don't know." Vert spoke up. "I think we've got enough flatties in the group."

"..."

"..."

"..." Blanc, Iffy and Neptune glared at Vert.

"What?" You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. _Wait why's Knife spelled like that anyway? Why the K? Why the silent K?_ As I contemplated the language of which I spoke Vert said probably the worst thing for me ever. "Cutie~ Who is your favorite goddess?"

"Maybe it was supposed to be pronounced ka-nife? I don't fucking know..."

"Arcy?"

"Hm? Sorry I was thinking of stupid shit."

"Who's your favorite goddess? You've met all four of us now. Sooooo, who do you think is best girl?" Vert had a gigantic smile on her face. "Surly it's me, you're precious big sister."

"...what?"

"Ignore her question Arc." Blanc stood up from the table and summoned her hammer. "She's just trying to get herself out of the hole she dug. To bad it's far too deep. Right girls?"

"Lady Vert. I truly respect you. However you've gone to far this time."

"I'm gonna Nep you so hard Vert!" Neptune picked up her plate of food and chucked it at Vert. Vert ducked down to dodge the projectile, making it it fly straight into my face.

"Neptune..." The plate fell off of my face onto my pants, covering it with gravy while I had mashed potatoes covering my handsome face. "I'm actually gonna kill you!" Jumping out of my seat I ran after a crying Neptune.

"Nepu! Please I didn't mean it!"

"NEPTUNE! I'LL KILL YOU!"


	17. Chapter 16

"*Sigh*" The day after the fiasco in Lowee the now six of us hopped on a train directly to Lastation. My least favorite country because of breathing reasons.

"Why the long face cutie?" I sat in the middle of Vert and Neptune. Vert, who loved to pester me and Neptune who was making a mess eating her lunch. _I'm to tired to even dignify that with a response._ I always hated being forced to sit in the middle, now it felt like agony.

"SOA GAWD!" Neptune was slurping and making horrible noises that made me feel nauseous.

"Neptune, you're eating rice, not fucking pasta. Please stop making such noises." Neptune paused to stare at me. Surly thinking of a clever response.

"What, am I turning you on?"

"Neptune." She ignored my glare and went back to eating in the same messy way. "Vert can we please change seats."

"Sorry Cutie, but until you accept me as your one and only big sister I must say no." _You play too many games Vert. There is no way in hell I'm doing that._

"Just stay there and keep quiet. We're almost there anyway." Blanc dismisses my plight. She had her face deep into a book the entire train ride and only spoke whenever we were disturbing her. She, Iffy and Compa sat in front, facing us. Compa and Iffy we're taking a nap.

"These CPUs..." The train then came to a halt.

" **Welcome to Lastation.** " Vert and Blanc were the first off the train. Followed by Neptune and Compa, who she had woken up.

"Come on. What's the hold up?" Iffy asked, stretching from her nap.

"Well, I like breathing, you know." Iffy took my hand and lead me out the train. "W-wait! I'm not mentally re- oh I can breath." Reaching the outside I found the air to be breathable. Still tasted like shit, but I could at least breath through my nose now. "Did Noire actually do things?"

"Who knows?" Neptune says. "Oh no! Iffy's getting sick!" Iffy's face was completely red. But no one seemed the slightest bit worried. In fact they were all giggling.

"You ok, Iffy?"

"I-I'm fine!" Iffy let go of my hand and walked to where Vert stood.

"At least you lasted three more seconds than last time."

"Lady Vert please."

"Ok!" Neptune suddenly yelled, getting our attention and everyone else that was around. "Since we didn't get to see the sights last time, I think we should pair up and look around! What do you guys think?"

"Perfect. I heard that there was a really good book store here." Blanc mentioned, with Compa moving towards her.

"Can I come with you? I wanna see if I can find anymore books about surgery!" _I don't want those to be used on me..._

"Ok." And there is the first pair.

"Well then. Iffy and I will go shopping for a bit!" Vert grabbed Iffy's arm.

"W-What? But I want to-"

"Aww come on. It'll be fun. Maybe you'll learn some new _techniques_ that will help you! Fashion is quite important." Iffy looked as if she had an epiphany and nodded her head. "Lovely."

"Well, I guess that leaves you and me Arcy!"

"Wonderful."

"Don't look so disappointed!"

"Ok, then we'll meet up here in two hours then. After that we'll look for Noire."

"Don't Ignore me Arcy!" The girls nodded and we all went our separate ways. I began to walk to randomly with Neptune walking behind me. "Arcy! Grrr!" Neptune grabbed my hand and wrapped her arms around my right one. "Listen!"

"*Sigh* What Neptune?"

"I want pudding!" _Of course._

"And let me guess, I'm gonna have to pay for it."

"Well, duh!" Although I had so little cash, I couldn't really refuse Neptune's request. I don't know why but the thought of disappointing Neptune made me feel...weird. I don't know. _Must be the air still fucking with me._

"Fine. Let's go then." Neptune lead me to a small convenience store and immediately ran to the fridges, leaving me in the entrance. "*Sigh* This girl's really obsessed with pudding huh..."

"Arc?" The sound of the door opening and my name being called out, made me turn around and meet-

"Chian?"

"Woah! It's been a while! How ya been?" Chian walked up and slapped my back. The girl had a lot of power. "Still hanging with the girls?"

"Y-Yeah. God that hurt." China still looked the same as always, only change was that she didn't have the silver case attached to her am. "How's your progress going on your project?"

"It's going great. We should be able to finish by tomorrow. Just in time for the expo."

"Nice. When's it gonna be held again?"

"Next week." Chain looked to be so excited that she couldn't stand still. "It's all because of Noire. She's been a great help."

"I'm sorry what?" _Noire is helping Chian?! Well that's a strange change of character. To think the loner would make a friend._ "Are you talking about the same Noire that helped us when we were first here?"

"Yup. She surprisingly good at tech stuff. Plus..." Chian began to jokingly elbow my side. "She's got quite the impression of you."

"Huh?" Neptune then turned the corner with a giant mountain of pudding in her arms.

"Arcy! I'm ready! Huh?" Neptune saw Chian and ran up to her. "Chian! How's it hangin?"

"Haha. I'm doing pretty well Neptune. It's good to see you haven't changed." Chian looked at the two of us, and again, and again. "Are you guys dating or something?"

"HUH?!" The question was so absurd I had to yell.

"..." Neptune hadn't said a word.

"No! We are not. I'm single and ready to mingle." I could hear the cashier of the store begin to laugh. Followed by Neptune´s and Chian´s laughs.

"Kahaha! Sure, good luck with the mingling buddy." Neptune slapped the back with enough force to make me cough in pain.

"I-I could get a girlfriend if I wanted to." The girls just stared at me with grins from ear to ear. "You guys are so mean."

"Whatever, now buy me pudding." I sighed and paid for Neptune's mountain of pudding, leaving me so close to broke I could cry. "Why are you crying?"

"Neptune, please." Chian had decided to follow us as she apparently had nothing better to do. "Now what, we still have an hour to kill?"

"Maybe you should ask Noire." Neptune pointed in front of us and sure enough there was Noire, shopping for some tech shit. "Hey, Arcy. Go behind her and surprise her."

"She'd kill me."

"Just do it." I reluctantly walked over to Noire. She was so engrossed in her shopping that she didn't notice me.

"Hey there Noire, how ya been?" Noire jumped slightly at the mention of her name and turned around. Then she freaked out, dropping the bags that she had in her hands and jumping back a few feet.

"D-D-D-DAR! I MEAN ARC?!" Noire poked my arm and moved backwards again. "It is you! What are you doing here?"

"We're still on our fragment mission. What were you gonna call me earlier?"

"NOTHING!" Noire picked up her bags and sighed. "Absolutely nothing. But it's nice to see you again. It's been awhile." Noire was surprisingly acting normal for once and saying what she actually felt. _Is she feeling alright?_

"It's good to see you too.I heard you made a friend for once. Not so lonely anymore eh?" On Que, Neptune and Chian walked over to us.

"Hey there Lonely Heart, how ya doin?" Noire's head dropped and she turned to Neptune.

"I see you're still hanging around Arc. Are Compa and IF here as well?" Noire then turned to Chian. "Also I'm almost done with the shopping. I just need to find that one paint color and then we're good."

"Of course Noire. I trust you." Noire's entire face went red.

"N-No problem."

"Hehe, told ya you'd make friends soon enough." I patted Noire's back playfully.

"It's just a fluke Arcy. Noire will always be a loner. It's her nature." I had to hold back Noire from punching Neptune who didn't look concerned at all. "Anyway IF and Compa are doin some looking around. We're supposed to meet with them soon."

"Does IF still have that, thing for that person?"

"Oh yea, in fact she's gained a rival. She's got her work cut out for her."

"Hmmm, I wonder..." _I feel like I'm missing something, but I don't know what...Oh~ apple pie! But I'm broke. God dammit._

"We should be heading back." I looked at my watch, "We have twenty minutes left." As I said that, in front of me was the duo of Compa and Blanc, with Vert and a very uncomfortable Iffy were walking. "Well then never mind."

"Arcy~" _God dammit._ Vert ran towards me and embraced me in a giant hug, of course with my face being pulled into her assets. "Did you miss me?"

"Vert I can't-MM!" As I began talking she pulled me deeper into the hug.

"Shhh. Your big sister is here for you." Suddenly I was pulled out the hug and came face to face with a very angry Noire.

"What is going on here? Arc, would you mind explaining? Who is this?" Her voiced oozed venom. At any moment I felt like another console war was going to break out.

"Well, you see-"

"My name is Vert, I'm sure you can recognize me if you try hard enough." Noire stared blankly at Vert.

"Nope, have no idea."

"Maybe if I take these off." Vert pulled off the stupid glasses she began wearing. Speaking if glasses I noticed that Blanc had a very similar pair however hers was blue. _Surly those disguises don't work._

"Wait! You're Green Heart!" Noire silently yelled so that only us six could hear. Chian had moved away to look at something in a shop conveniently. _You've gotta be kidding me._ "That must make you White Heart... I couldn't tell with those glasses." I put my palm onto my face and rubbed it against it.

"I know...I know." Iffy said.

"What are you two doing? I thought we were still on bad terms."

"Well, Neptune and her friends helped us. It's only natural that we would return the favor and become allies. I(m sure the same thing happen with you." Noire flinched and nodded her head. "My question is, why didn't you join them as we have?"

"Well, as much as I hate to say this, my nation is way worse off than either of yours. I had to stay here and do something. Even if my own government turned on me."

"Oh my, I hadn't heard of this. It's a surprise that you are even alive."

"Wait what? Vert what do you mean?" Vert chuckled and gabbed my arm, pulling her close to her.

"Ah, let me explain to you cutie. When a Goddess losses the faith of her citizens she become very weak. So weak that maybe you could beat them."

"One, that hurt. And secondly, that explains a lot." Vert sucked her teeth and crossed her arms.

"Lady Noire here must have a very low amount of shares... She's quite vulnerable. It's surprising that Avenir hasn't assassinated you yet." I had a sinking feeling at hearing that.

"Then we should help her!" Everyone stared at me. "We can't just let Noire go through this alone. We've got to take down Avenir and reset Lastasion."

"Yea...but we've got stuff to do." The girls all nodded at Neptune comment.

"Fine. Then I'll help." I walked away from Vert's grasp and put a hand on Noire's shoulder. "I know I'm not much, but I'll try my best Noire." Her face went beet red as she nodded.

"T-Thank you...Darling."

"Huh?"

"HUH?!"

"W-Well, everyone's got a nickname for you except for me. And it's normal for friends to have nicknames for each other, right?" _That's some rock solid logic right there._

"Alright, call me Darling. I'll have to think of a nickname for you to then." Noire shone a bright smile.

"Wait wait wait wait!" Neptune jumped in between us. "We were just joking before, but the joke has gone to far! Now we gotta keep an eye on these two. Right Iffy?"

"Yea!" Vert, Blanc and Compa just laughed.

"It seems like a new challenger has entered the mix. Who will win?"

"The protagonist always wins!"

"No way, Neptune! Everyone know's it's the brunette."

"Nope, the Tsundere wins."

"So you admit it!" The girls yelled.

"N-No!" _I have no idea what's happening but at least we're on the same side. Now the only thing left to deal with is Avenir and Arfoire. We've got the four most powerful people in the world on our side. We got this._

"Oh, I got one." The girls stop bickering and look at me. "Nowa! I know it's not so good but it's the best thing I got. Is that ok, Noire?" Noire's entire body flared, so much that you could see steam flowing out of her head.

"What? How stupid can you be Arcy?! That sound's utterly-"

"Y-Yea!" Noire interrupted Neptune's rambling.

"Nowa it is!" That sentence earned me a glare for Iffy and Neptune.

"Not fair! I don't have a nickname!"

"I don't feel like call you Nep. I prefer Neptune."

"Grrrr! BITE!"

"OW!" Neptune bit my hand and refused to let go. "NOOO!"


	18. Chapter 17

_**AN: Hey there, Nep Lovers! Time for the bi-weekly update. Sure, these ANs are usually useless unless it's me apologizing for being the degenerate that I am, but I have a reason that is not bad this time! (Sorta...Not really)**_

 _ **A thanks to Bropower125 for pointing out a piece of shit thing that I've been doing that I didn't realize in his review. Google has failed me again. I've been misspelling Avenir and Lastation. An offense that should be punishable by death. I fixed my typos for these two chapters. I'll fix the other typos in the older chapters in due time. I may slip up every now and then in the future, but at least I won't look like a tool now! (Maybe)**_

 _ **Anyway, thanks again Bropower (Can I call you Bropower? Eh, I'm gonna do it anyway, cuz fuck it.) And to your other request, we shall see.**_

* * *

"Have you ever drank Bleach?"

"I see we're starting real early, huh?" I was in the dream world again. Almost immediately when I opened my eyes he asked me this. "Ummm, no? I'm not THAT suicidal."

"It has quite an interesting flavor."

"Are you ok there?" Goldman shook his head and rested his chin on his hand.

"No. Being dead is really boring. *Sigh* I wish next week would come faster."

"What happens next week?" Goldman flinched and cursed under his breath.

"I shouldn't have said that. Man, I'm gonna get my ass handed to me..." He took a deep breath and relaxed in his chair. "Ah, whatever. I'll just be really cryptic about it."

"I'd actually rather you not."

"Nah, fuck that. This is my gig, kid. Gotta do it right." _He really knows how to push my buttons._ "Let's just say that next week will be the apex of your journey, and will change everything."

"What, can you see the future or something?"

"Nope. Hell, I'm terrible at predicting things, someone else I know has a good feeling about next week though."

"There are more people like you?"

"Ah, shit. Can't answer that question. Wanna sing with me instead?"

"I'd love to not do that." He pouted and sunk into his chair. _What the hell is gonna happen next week?_ "Am I gonna die?"

"Ohoho no! That'd be bad. I don't know the dets exactly but don't worry. You'll like it." _Hmmm. Next week is the convention for Chian's thing...that's definitely when it'll happen. But what...ay whatever. I don't really care._ "So how's your harem going?"

"Not a harem. Why do you keep saying that? It's not like any of the girls even like me."

"You've gotta be kidding me... How dense can you be?"

"What are you talking about? I'm not dense at all!"

"This guy..." He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "It doesn't matter, she'll make a move soon anyway. I know for a fact that you'll be swept off your feet!"

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Bye bye~" The world grew darker.

"Wait! What were you say-"

* * *

"Ugh. So bright..." I awoke in a room that was unfamiliar to me with sunlight coming out from the window to my right, hitting me directly in the eyes. "That's right...Chian's place." After meeting back up with Chian and Noire, Chian allowed the five of us, (Noire said she had her own place, probably the basilicom) to stay with her in her new house. We happily took the offer thanks to the fact that I had no money at all.

"You up, Arc?" A female voice called out from the outside of the room. Like last time I was given my own room because I'm a guy and it's bad to sleep with defenseless girls apparently. _Well when you say it like that..._

"I'm up, I'm up." I lazily dragged myself out of the god like bed and opened the door. On the other side was Blanc, book in hand. "Oh, good morning Blanc. Sleep well?"

"I guess so. Are you busy today?"

"Huh? Not at all. Kinda got no life."

"That's expected." _What's that supposed to mean?_ "Chian asked us to check out a factory that she was planning on using. The problem is that there have been reports of a giant mechanical monster living inside of it."

"Oh, I was hoping to almost die again. It's my favorite pass time." I quite my sarcasm and sigh. "Do I have to come? It's not like I'll be useful."

"You're a great human shield." _You got me there._ "But seriously, Neptune said she won't leave until you agree to come."

"Why's she so attached to me? Jeez, looks like I don't have a choice. Whatever." Blanc nods her head and begins to walk down the hallway.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot to say. Apparently IF and Compa will not be able to join us as Chian needs their help with her project or whatever. So don't get any life threatening injuries."

"You say that like I can help it." Blanc smiles and walks away. "Ugh. Why me?" I go back into the room and pack as many healing items as I can before walking to the living room where Neptune and Vert were playing some fighting game. "Good Morning."

"TAKE THAT TIDDY LADY! Mornin."

"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY! Morning Cutie~"

"How do these two have so much energy so early in the morning?"

"*Sigh* You're guess is as good as mine, D-Darling." I turn to the door of the house to see Nowa coming in. "Good morning."

"Ah, hey there Nowa. So you're coming with us too?"

"Yes, I can't exactly trust your safety to a hyperactive goddess and a woman obsessed with sibling love."

"HEY!"

"Anyway, H-How'd you sleep?"

"Terribly. I can never get any good rest..." Nowa pats my back.

"I can make you some coffee if you'd like."

"Nah, I'll be fine. Thank you though, Nowa." Nowa's face flushed and she went to sit on the couch next to Neptune and Vert. "So, when are we heading out?"

"After I get food! I win!" I look at the screen and sure enough Neptune won with a disrespectful run up grab. Something so stupid, Vert never saw it coming. "Hehehe! You're paying for breakfast today Vert!"

"*Sigh* Although it hurts, it was the terms we agreed to." Vert then stuck her hand out to me.

"What?"

"Well, how am I to pay for breakfast when I don't have any money?"

"I'M BROKE!" Vert looked at me as if it didn't register. "I have no money! Nada! Not a cent."

"Well then, just take money out of your savings or something. I know you have quite a lot saved up."

"H-How do you know?!" _Can CPU's look up my bank account?!_ "No! I'm saving for something. I promised myself that money will only ever go into that until it's time."

"Well, now is the time. Gimmie." Vert wasn't gonna give up, I knew this. I only had one choice...

"Fucking hell." I went to take out my wallet.

"I'll just pay." Nowa spoke up. "You guys call yourselves Goddesses? Hassling poor little D-Darling out of his money. How disgraceful." This struck Vert real hard, and only flew over Neptune's head.

"He's just the guy who pays for everything."

"How are you to win if you keep acting like that. I've barely started and I'm already in the lead." This time Neptune got hit.

"..."

"Ummm, it's ok Nowa. Seriously. If it's just breakfast it'll be a small set back."

"You think this will be the only time? If they broke you down once they will break you down every time." Her argument made a lot of sense...

"Sorry Arcy." Vert and Neptune said in unison. "It won't happen again."

"Did you just save my wallet?! Nowa, your the best!" I rush over to Nowa and grab her hand. "Thanks. Now I won't be broke that much often...well I probably will be."

"N-No problem." Nowa pulls her hand back gently and holds it in her other hand. "S-So we should go get breakfast already. Come on." Nowa runs out of the house.

"She's getting ahead of you Neptune~" Vert whispers cheerfully.

"Gah! I've got a thing ahead of Noire that she doesn't!" Neptune suddenly jumps onto my back. "I'm awesome!"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." Blanc comes out of a random room and immediately leaves the house.

"Neptune, get off."

"No! Piggy back!"

"Why am I stuck with you..."

"Cuz I'm the protagonist." _I'm the protag tho..._ "Le go."

"Hmmm. Arcy seems to be in a lot of doo doo. Come on." Vert grabbed my arm, pulling Neptune and I out of the house. _Doo doo?_

* * *

"Gah...ha..." After about a mile walk with a small hyperactive girl on my back, we stood in front of a large building. After reaching the factory, Neptune jumped off my back, allowing me to catch my breath. "Neptune...why do you always do this to me?"

"Reasons. Oh! Look at that." Neptune ran over to the large door and pushed it open. _Why are these CPU's so god damn strong?!_ "Ack! Is so dusty in here. Are you sure this is the place Vert?"

"This is the address that Chian had given me. But I don't seem to sense anything...oh well. Won't hurt to just look around a bit, right?"

"I don't know if my lungs can handle that amount of dust..." I say walking up to the girls. "Ugh. This looks like it's gonna be even worse than pollution..."

"..."

"I didn't mean to be rude Nowa! You've done great! You reduced the pollution here so much in so little time."

"It's still not enough." Nowa crossed her arms. "As long as Avneir has power here, I can't make as many changes as I want to.

"That explains why you're helping Chian." Blanc said, making Neptune and I stare at her.

"What?"

"*Sigh* Unbelievable. To think that you're a CPU Neptune." Blanc shakes her head and stretches. "Basically, the competition is a competition for gaining new sponsors and partners. Every year Avneir wins. However, due to their suspicious actions ever since Noire came back. The sponsors are saying that if they don't win, they're out. It's more of a symbolic thing since they are basically guaranteed to win, but if they do lose they lose all their cash. Meaning their end."

"So basically if Chian wins, they go away. You could have just said that." Neptune nodded, agreeing with my statement.

"Simpletons." I looked at Neptune, to see if she knew what that word meant. She looked just as confused as I was.

"Well, that's part of it. But that's not important right now. Let's get this over with." Nowa was the first to walk in, disappearing in the cloud of dust.

"Do I have to go?"

"Yes!" Neptune pulls me inside, much to Vert's content.

"Oh this'll be fun! I can't wait to carry Arcy back again."

"Wait what? Are you counting on the fact that I get injured."

"Maybe~"

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Vert grabbed my other arm and Blanc began pushing me in from behind. "I'm too young to die!"

The moment we got out of the cloud of dust we were face to face with a certain man that I haven't seen in awhile. "Why hello there. It's a pleasure to see you all again. Lady Purple Heart, Lady Black Heart, Arc."

"Ganache." Nowa stood in front of Ganache, frozen in anger. "What are you doing here bastard?! Are you behind this as well?"

"Now is that a way to say hello to an old friend?" Nowa looked like she wanted to spit in his face. "I see there are some new faces in the group. Hello my name is-"

"Ganache, Vice President of Aviner. Is single handedly responsible for buying half of all of Lastation land. I'm well aware of who you are." Ganache fixed his tie. Unfazed by Vert's glare.

"Why am I not surprised that you all are behind this. I'm guessing you're the one who told Chian about this place, just to try and get rid of us." Blanc's disgust was apparent.

"No, no. I don't care about you humans. I could get rid of you all whenever I wanted. I'm more concerned with the two goddesses here. I must pave the way for my Lady to win!" Ganache started to become uncharacteristically ecstatic.

"Lady? Can you at least answer me that before I break most of my bones?"

"Very well, _Human_." _Dude, you're a human as well!_ "I do this all for my lady, Lady White Heart!" The four of us turn and look at Blanc.

"*Sigh* You've gotta be kidding me..." Without us asking her to, Blanc transforms and approaches Ganache. "Yo, I'm White Heart. So I'd appreciate it if you fucking stopped."

"W-What?!" Ganache takes a step backwards. "Humph. You thought you could trick me, faker? Lady White Heart would never utter such a disgusting word."

"I'm White Heart! Now believe me before I break your legs." Blanc summoned her axe and her eyes were beginning to turn red.

"I guess she gets angry easily in this form... Blanc, calm down! We're trying to avoid a fight." I attempt to yell at her.

"Lady White Heart would never be as vulgar, disgusting and as tactless as you are, Faker!"

"I'm gonna rip your asshole open, asshole!" Blanc swings her axe down onto Ganache, only to have it blocked by a much larger axe. "The fuck?"

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me...another one of these shits?" I looked up and there flew a giant snake like robot with a giant axe in one of it's hands.

"Killachine, get rid of the goddesses and the disgusting faker!"

"Looks like we've gotta get through this the old fashion way!" Neptune jumped and transformed. "Ladies, let's get this over with."

"I-I'm here too..."


	19. Chapter 18

"Well then. This sure is awkward." I stood in front of Ganache as up above the two of us, the four goddesses were fighting the Killachine. "Soo..."

"I'll just get rid of you now." Ganache took out a gun from his breast pocket.

"Woah! What the fuck man?!" I put my hands up. "L-Let's talk about this. I'm not a threat, I'm just a normal guy." _This went from zero to sixty really quickly! Yes, I say it like that! Don't judge me damn reader. I'm the one in danger, not you._

"I did some research on you. No birth certificate, no ID, not even a country of origin, or belief. You're right. No one would be able to believe a word you said."

"Then why do you want to kill me?!"

"My partner however, doesn't see you the same way. She says that you will be a thorn in her side soon enough." Ganache turned off the safety.

"W-Woah there! I've got literally no power in the world! I'm a lonely adventurer who get regularly beat up by Doggos! Just calm-" The gun went off. Instinctively I summoned a sword and sliced the bullet in half. "Hey, awesome! AW SHIT!" While one half of the bullet went skyward, the other half embedded itself into right my thigh, forcing me off the leg and falling onto the ground. "Damn games lied. That robot ninja's brother was right all along!" _Underclock I'll get you yet._

"How idiotic. I'm doing you a favor." Ganache began to walk towards me, however the sound of a giant thud behind him stopped him. "..."

"Well that was way easier than last time." Neptune said as she landed on the ground in front of me.

"That's because you had me with you this time."

"Shut up Thunder Tits. It's because of me."

"Can you all stop now?" Nowa commanded. They surprisingly complied. "You ok, Darling?"

"I'll be fine for now. Take care of your business." I laid down casually. The hole in my thigh hurt like hell, but I gotta act cool every now and then.

"Good. Now Ganache, surrender. You know you stand no chance against the four of us. That gun is nothing but a puny water gun to us."

"You're right, Lady Black Heart. However, did you really think that I'd come here only with one? I'm not as incompetent as you are."

"What are you talking about?" Ganache snapped his fingers and multiple Killachines began appearing into the factory. One by one, soon turning into a crowd of about thirty. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"You took down one with ease, but I wonder how you will fare with thirty? Kill them." They all began to swarm us. Neptune grabbed onto my shirt and flew to the ceiling.

"We need to retreat. There is no way we can take them all on!"

"For once we agree Neptune." Nowa, Blanc and Vert follow suit. Only to be chased by a swarm of Killiachines. "Damn! Get away!"

"What are you-Ugh!" Neptune flew face first into one of the Killachine's chest. Downing the both of us. "Damn machines."

"Ha...ha." I landed right onto the thigh with a bullet residing inside. Jolts of pain were spreading all around my body. _I can't move..._ One of the rouge machines began to approach me. "Oh just wonderful. Fucking piece of junk! Leave me alone!" I threw my sword at it, only to have it bounce off. The machine picked up it's pace and brought down it's axe.

"Move!" Neptune rushed over to me and blocked the attack. However, the force didn't stop. Neptune changed into a parry, forcing the axe to move away. When She finished the parry, her arm made a surprisingly loud crack sound and she fell onto her back, transforming back and clutching her arm. "Ugh! Diggity Dang that hurts!"

"Neptune?!" I drag myself over to where she laid and the instant I looked at her arm I knew it was completely broken. _That shattered a couple of her bones? A goddesses bones?!_ I force myself to sit up and take out a bottle full of medicine. I place it on the ground and lift Neptune up to rest her body on my thighs. "Neptune, drink this."

"Oh, Arcy. You ok? The monster didn't hit you, right?" Neptune spoke casually but her face was contorting in pain. Her pained expression made me want to throw up.

"What are you saying. Just drink this dammit." Neptune silently nodded her head as I fed her the drink. "Do you feel better?"

"Uhuh." I was gonna go into my bag when I noticed a swarm of machines heading my way. _Dammit! I forgot about these bastards! What am I supposed to do?! I gotta protect Neptune but... why's it always like this?_

"I won't..." I laid Neptune on the ground and stood up. "I've gotta be a hero sometimes right?" One of the machines was right in my face. "Gotcha! **Projection: Blood Scythe**. Oh fuck." Nothing appeared in my hand. "Well that's unfortunate."

"Destroy!" At a moment's notice, every single Killachine in the room burst into an explosion of pixels.

"WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAT!?" Ganache yelled from his hiding place. "How?!"

The answer walked up to me. A girl dressed like a witch with long flowing blue hair and a large cane in her hand. "Mages?! You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Hello there Lord Arc. It's been quite a while! BTW, it's MAGES.. Got it?"

"Y-Yeah. What are you doing here?!"

"Well I was in the neighborhood and I felt your spirit call out to me! It's only natural that I'd help my partner in crime!" _Aw man. I forgot you were crazy._

"D-Did she just destroy every single one of the Killachines here?!" Nowa asked as she, Blanc and Vert joined us. "What happened to Neptune?!"

"Shit!" I was so preoccupied I forgot to keep her safe. I crouched down to where Neptune lay and there she was, taking a nap with a giant air bubble coming from her nose and snoring obnoxiously loud. "Thank god." I pick up Neptune and turn back to MAGES.. "Thanks again for saving us, but we've got to get back to Compa. Neptune was pretty badly injured."

"What happened?" Vert asked.

"She...she broke her arm attempting to protect me."

"Ah, I can take care of that." MAGES. waves her wand over Neptune and her arm shined with a green light, returning to its normal state. "I healed the arm, however she may still feel pain for a couple days. Make sure she gets plenty rest."

"Woah! Thanks MAGES., so you really are a mage..."

"Why of course!"

"This girl is just as annoying as Neptune. Please stop yelling." Blanc pleaded.

"This is merely how I speak! And I am not girl, my name is MAGES.."

"Yeah sure whatever. The real question is what are we going to do about this bastard." Blanc pointed to the other side of the room, where Ganache was attempting to crawl out a window.

"Ganache! Get back here you bastard!" Nowa tried running after him but he slipped out of the window before she got to him. "Dammit!"

"Relax, 'Nowa'. We will see in soon. We'll get our revenge at the convention."

"*sigh* You're right. And you can't call me Nowa, Vert. Only Darling can."

"My, my. You're practically yelling your feelings aren't you?"

"S-Shut up! Let's just get back to Chian's." Again, Nowa was the first out of the factory.

"*Sigh* What am I gonna do with you..." I clutched Neptune's elbow as I held her. I began walking out of the factory, despite the terrible pain in my leg.

* * *

"Why did you not tell me of your injury, Lord Arc?"

"Cuz I'm an idiot." I sat on the edge of my bed as MAGES. was healing the injury I had gotten from the bullet. "Jeez. Why are you even here? Don't you have some soda to look for or something?"

"Ah! About that, I have found the drink of the gods. However, it will be a while until I am able to get my hands on it. The Organization has their damn hands on it. But I will get it back soon."

"So basically you're broke." MAGES. broke through her act for a moment to cringe at my statement.

"N-No! Until I gain the necessary items to steal back the drink of the gods, I will assist you on you. After all, I must pay back my life debt to you. " _It's more like I have the debt. But I doubt you'll listen to a word I say._ The door opens, with Compa walking into the room.

"How ya feeling Arcy?"

"I'm fine. How's Neptune doing" At the mention of her name, Neptune bursts through the door, climbs onto my bed and wraps her arms around my neck.

"Called me?!"

"Not really." Neptune pouted and pushed her face into my back. "Glad you're ok though..."

"Hehe! What would you expect from the protagonist! Heros never die!" Neptune let go of my and laid down on her back. "Your beds really comfy."

"Don't fall asleep. It's only four."

"You're no fun." Neptune stayed laying down. I could feel her eyes on my back.

"Well...MAGES. can I talk to you outside for a second?"

"Why of course." MAGES. and Compa walked out of the room. Leaving Neptune and I alone.

"What's up? You've been staring at my back for a while." I stand up and stretch. The pain from the injury was there but was pretty suppressed. Hurt, but I could do what was needed.

"Sorry you got hurt by Ganache."

"Are you kidding me?" I turn to the lazy goddess. "That's my line. You broke your fucking arm and _you're_ apologizing? What the hell?"

"Well, I'm a CPU. It's only natural I protect people."

"You only just found out that you were one. And since when did you take anything seriously?" I cross my arms. "You shouldn't come to my need all the time Neptune. You're the CPU of Planeptune. They need you. I'm just a normal guy. My death won't mean a thing." _It's common sense._ Neptune sits up suddenly and plants her feet on the ground. "Huh? Hey, I'm done lecturing you."

"You're a complete idiot." She looked utterly pissed off. Something that I had never thought that Neptune could feel.

"What? Now that's rich coming from you." She dismissed my sarcastic comment and stormed out of the room. "Wait, what just happened?" _Why the hell did she get angry? That girl makes no sense to me._

And so we waited, nothing in particular happened for the next week. A few weird conversations here and there but that was par for the course. The one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was Neptune's horrid anger at me. The girl refused to look at me, let alone talk to me. It was a pretty weird feeling. Although my life had become relatively more peaceful and less annoying for a week, there was this nagging feeling at the back of my mind to try and fix things. To get things back to the way it was. "And how the hell am I supposed to do that?" It was the day before the event and I was lying in my bed, with nothing to do. No matter what I did, or how much I tried to think of something else, my mind always ended back to Neptune. "That girls so annoying that she's invading my mind. Wonderful."

"Yo, Arc." Iffy walked into my room.

"What's up, Iffy? And knock sometimes."

"Yeah yeah. Anyway, Neptune said that she wanted to speak to you."

"*Sigh* What's up with her? Usually she'd just bust in and yell her orders to me. Now she's sending messengers?" Iffy sighed and sat on the edge of my bed.

"I guess she really is mad at you." _Yea, I can fuckin tell._ "You're not mad at her, are you?"

"Huh? Of course not. I'm just a little annoyed at her behavior with me."

"Ya miss her?"

"Not really. It's just annoying not knowing what I did. Now I can understand these memes." Iffy sighed again.

"Stop spending so much time looking at the internet."

"What am I supposed to do? I have no life, remember?"

Iffy got off the bed and walked to the door frame. "She's at the park near here. Don't be late."

"I won't be. I'm the responsible one, remember?"

"Sure." Iffy left my room.

I walked out of Chian's house and could see the park about a couple blocks away. After a short walk, I entered the park was hit in the head with a plastic cup. "Hey, idiot! I'm over here!" Neptune sat on the grass next to a tree. She had her normal big dumb smile on her face.

"Well look who's all chatty now." I sat next to her.

"Hehe. I'm not the kind of person to hold a grudge. Honestly I was just committing to the bit for a while." _Great to know the situation that I was wrestling in my head for an entire week was just a bit. Why am I hanging around this girl again?_ "Sorry bout that! Do ya forgive me? Pretty please?"

"Fine. It's whatever." _Why can't I say no to her?_ "Anyway, why did you get mad in the first place?"

"..." Neptune pulled her knees to her chest.

"Hey cover up! I can see your panties!"

"Perrrrrv!" Neptune giggles as she returns to her normal sitting position. "Well, it really mondays my Garfield when you said that you didn't mean anything."

"Huh? You got mad over such a simple thing? Man, step up your game Neptune."

"Hey! I'm trying to be serious here!" She pulled out a cup of pudding. "You do mean something Arcy. Jeez."

"Huh?"

"How dense can you be?! I'm saying that your really important to me."

"O-Oh." _Why's she always saying this kinda stuff? First in Lowee and now here. She just loves to say weird stuff, huh._

"Like a lot. "

"I got it."

"..." Neptune scotched over to me. "And, attack." She put her head on my shoulder. "hehe."

"Jeez. Always so touchy."

"..." She whispered something to herself that I couldn't hear.

"Hm?"

"Don't worry about it"


	20. Chapter 19

_**AN: :)**_

* * *

"Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen, to the fifth annual Lastation Technology Event! Today we have some very interesting contestants, however that is for the main event. Until then, please enjoy our stalls and free food!" a voice rang out from the speakers around the convention center. It was absolutely packed.

"FREE FOOD?!" Neptune yelled into my ear. _It's a wonder how I'm not deaf yet._

"Well, this is where we part for now." Chian said, jogging in front of us. "I've got to go set up. Well, I'll see you guys later. Remember, the competition starts at four. Ok?"

"Yea, yea. Anyway, Arc, get me food!" Neptune grabbed onto my arm and began to shake it.

"You have legs, use em."

"But MOM!"

"You little!" I pinched both of Neptune's cheeks and pulled on them. "Jeez. So guys, what you wanna do?" I completely ignored Neptune's sporadic hand movements to make me let go of her.

"Ayayayaya!"

"I'm down for some ice cream." Iffy offered.

"Hmmm. I haven't had ice cream in a while. Sure, of course Neptune gets nothing."

"Na Far!" Neptune's slurred. I let got of her cheeks and she back away from me, rubbing her face. "How mean."

"Next time, please don't yell directly into my ear." Neptune punched me in the gut. "GUH!"

"Neptune. How childish can you be?" Nowa said.

"He started it."

"I have an idea. Why don't we all split up like last time. We'll get much more done this way." Before anyone could say a thing, Vert yanked Iffy away with her.

"MY ONLY CHANCE! LADY VERT!"

"Annnnnnnnnd she's gone. Wow. That sure was something." I rubbed my stomach. "So, who's with m-" before I could finish my last syllable, Nowa had moved over to my side and tugged on my sleeve. "Nowa it is."

"MAGES. I wanna ask you some questions about healing magic...can we go talk?"

"Of course, Compa. I, the great and powerful MAGES. shall teach you the greatness that is magic. After I get some nice tacos inside of my magical belly." MAGES. and Compa went off.

"...Can we switch, Arc?"

"No Blanc. I don't want die yet."

"I'm sure she won't hurt you that hard."

"Yea! I'll only break your legs! Yay!" Neptune's carefree smile made me think that she might.

"Nowa, let's go please."

"S-Sure." Nowa led the way, all the way to the edge of the convention floor. We were near some cosplayers. They were wearing some weirdly sexy robot cosplay. "..."

"You seem to be interested in this."

"I-I'm not!" Nowa's face was completely red. _To think that the CPU of Lastation is interested in cosplay. Huh, that's kinda cute..._

"I think you'd be cute in a cosplay." Nowa got redder, a way that I didn't really think that she could do.

"W-What are you saying you idiot?!" She turned around and crossed her arms. "To think that you'd say that to the most powerful person in all of this nation..."

"Doesn't change the fact that I'd think you'd be cute in that. But whatever, I was just tryin to make conversation." Nowa made a strange kind of grunt and moved back over to my side.

"You're an idiot, Darling..."

"Yeah, I get that a lot. So, ya hungry?" Nowa nodded and we headed out. Near the cosplay corner was a food stand. "Hmmmm. I could go for a burger. No tomatoes though."

"You're such a child. You should just shut up and eat your vegetables."

"No! Tomatoes are utter shit! They're sweet yet savory and are so juicy. Ugh. Just eating a slice makes me want to shoot myself in the leg."

"They're good for you."

"I don't care. I'd rather die young than live eating that crap." Another devil veggie appeared in my mind. "And fuck peppers. Ugh."

"How childish can you be?!"

"They're icky."

"*Sigh* And you're the man I call Darling..." Nowa went to the food stall and put in an order. Almost immediately she got what she ordered and pushed a burger to me. "Eat it. And don't you dare take out the tomato."

"Nowa please..." She glared at me. I knew I couldn't disobey her now. "Dammit..." I take a bite and the tomato juice fills my mouth. I cringed and convoluted in disgust. I force myself to swallow the bite. "Disgusting. Fuck this man. I'm sorry Nowa but I can't do this." I open the burger and drop the tomato into the garbage bin.

"*Sigh* Fine. I just wanted you to try it."

"Sorry..."

"It's fine. I'll make you love the taste one day." She giggled and took a bite of her own burger "...onions..."

"And you call me childish."

"S-Shut up!"

* * *

Nowa and I continued walking around the convention with no real intention. There was a ton of cool things that I would have loved to buy...If I had any cash."How much longer until we meet up with everyone?"

"About two hours. Why, are you bored?"

"A bit... Conventions are no fun when you don't have any cash."

"If you had your life out more, you wouldn't have this problem, D-Darling."

"Well, sorry, but I didn't expect to be sent on a an adventure spanning all four countries of the world and end up taking care of you goddesses."

"I can take care of myself very well, thank you very much." Nowa's genuine response to what was obviously a joke was pretty refreshing.

"You're pretty fun to talk to Nowa. At least you don't scream my ear off." Again she went red. _Jeez, does this girl have allergies or what?_ "*Sigh* But there are so many things I wanna buyyyyyyy. God dammit."

"What are you saving money up for anyway?" Her question made me start to sweat.

"O-Oh? That? I-It's n-nothing. Don't worry about it." She was obviously very suspicious of me.

"Whatever. I don't want to pry. You can tell me if you want to or not." She hung her head low. "It's only natural that you wouldn't trust me yet..."

"Huh? I trust you completely." Her head shot up. "I mean sure, you sorta tried to kill me. But who hasn't?"

"I don't think that's a good thing..."

"My point is, that I don't hold a grudge against you or anything. Plus, you saved me against the Killachine that one time. I owe ya."

"..."

"I can't exactly stay mad at you. You're my friend after all."

"F-Friend?!"

"Huh? Yeah. A friend I can trust completely. I'm just a bit embarrassed about what it is I'm saving up for...I'll tell ya later. As long as you don't tell anyone else. K?"

"A secret that's only between you and me..."

"I guess you can call it that. Yeah." Nowa covered her face with her hands.

"O-Ok. I-I've gotta go to the bathroom real quick. Wait for me here." She ran off, hands still on her face.

"Be careful." As I said this, she bumped into a random person looking at a booth. "*Sigh* Why does everyone have to act so weird?"

"You're quite stupid, aren't you?" An aristocratic voice resounded from behind me.

"Aw come on. Why'd I have to meet you so early into this, Ganache." When I turned around, the young business man was wearing a carefree smile. "Oh great, he's happy."

"Of course I am. I finally have a chance to get rid of your annoying group. You've been causing quite a lot of trouble for us for a while."

"Huh? But we... you're responsible for what happened in Leanbox and Lowee aren't ya?" He nodded. "I'm guessing you guys are also the ones making the monster discs."

"You aren't as stupid as you seem." He chuckled maniacally.

"So I'm guessing the 'Partner' you mentioned the other day was Arfoire."

"Ah, you met the old hag? Yes. Her magic is quite useful." He took a step towards me.

"All of this just to get Nowa and the others out of power. You guys are really pieces of shit."

"It's simple politics. Should we assist the old hag, we get to ignore any and all environmental laws stopping us. Not to mention the use of Lastation." he looked at me up and down. "You truly are a useless human being, inside and out."

"You're fucking point?"

"I'll give you a deal. Should you follow my instructions and trap the goddesses, and that fake Lady White Heart, I will pay you off."

"Ah, let me think. How about you shove that deal all the way up your ass. Ah shit. I forgot, you've got your head stuck in there." He picked me up by the collar.

"Listen brat. I don't give a shit what I have to do. I will kill those damn goddesses. But not before I enjoy making your life a living hell. You do _not_ want to make an enemy out of me."

"I couldn't give a flying fuck. After all, I may be useless, but those girls can and will smash you and your company to little tiny pieces. So how about you put me down and go run to little Arfoire. Dumb cunt." Ganache shoved me to the ground.

"I'll enjoy killing you later." He stomped away. _Damn, how strong was that guy to be able to lift me up? I may have dug myself a hole that I can't get out of..._

"What are you doing down there?" Nowa said from behind me. "You ok?"

"Ah, just kind tripped." I stood up and dusted my clothing off.

"You didn't break an arm or something did you?"

"How weak do you think I am?!" Nowa walked over to my side and patted my back.

"I'm just joking. But be more careful, ok? I don't want you getting hurt." _Damn these girls. Always saying weird shit..._

After two hours of wandering around the convention aimlessly, Nowa and I sat at the back of a giant auditorium, the meeting spot that we had all agreed on. It was where the competition was to be held, and yet we were the only ones from our group that was in the room. "Where are those girls?"

"Called for me?" Vert sang as she appeared behind me, Iffy arms length away from her.

"Holy shit! Don't scare me Vert."

"Sorry, Cutie. I just couldn't help myself." She giggled to herself and sat next to me. Putting me in the middle of her and Nowa. "So, how'd you like the convention?"

"It was boring." Nowa and I said.

"I must agree." Vert relaxed into her chair. "There was not as much BL things I could find as usual. Although I did get quite the haul." She pointed to the giant bag that Iffy held.

"I thought you didn't have any money...you didn't take Iffy's cash did you?!"

"Huh? Lady Vert had a lot. What are you talking about, Arc?" Iffy relaxed as well, putting the bag in front of her seat.

"You tried to trick me!"

"W-Well, that's not important Cutie. It's in the past."

"You cheap fuckin- Ugh." I looked outside the open door of the auditorium and could spot the rest of the group. Each with their own bags full of stuff. "Did all of you have money?!"

"..." Vert and Iffy stayed quite.

"I loathe you all."

"Sorry." Vert's head hung low.

"Heya playas. What's up?" As soon as Neptune saw Vert's depressed figure and my angry face, she began to take a couple steps back. "I-I've gotta.."

"Neptune!"

"NEPU!"

After an hour wait, the show had finally begun. "C-Can I at least get one?"

"No Neptune." Neptune audibly cried. After all, I had confiscated her bag of candy and pudding. "I can't believe you aren't fat with the amount of junk food you eat."

"Sexy lolis always stay sexy."

"Ugh." Her logic made absolutely no sense, so much so that it was stupid to even try to correct her. "Just shut up and watch the show." At first it was just some people showing their, honestly crappy home made technological inventions. _No wonder Avneir had no competition. The only people here are just amateurs._ Until the main event came up. An old man followed by Ganache went up the the stage.

"Good Afternoon residents of Lastation." The old man spoke into the mic, reviving a way of applause. More than any of the other contestants had gotten.

"Who's the old guy?" I asked, earning a slap on the back of my head by Nowa.

"It's the owner and CEO of Avneir. He's the reason my nation is so..." Nowa trailed off and tightened her grip on her skirt.

"Don't worry Nowa. Everything will be fine." I pat her head.

"..." she only nodded.

"I'd like to introduce you to our brand new robotic AI!" The curtains behind him and Ganache fell, revealing a giant silver robot. It was very human shaped, and even had some weapons attached to it's back. "This robot here specializes in fighting, meaning it would be perfect for protecting our precious nation from any and all unwanted monsters." _So that's they're angle. Create weapons under the gauze of protecting Lastation when it's to help Arfoire. Honestly, it's pretty impressive for an evil company._

The old man handed the mic to Ganache. "There are a few people that I'd like to thank for assisting us in the creation of this Robot. My good friends, they were so nice as to assist me on gathering data for the perfect way to get rid of unwanted _pests_. If only our Lady Black Heart would help this Nation as much as we had."

"This rotten bastard."

"Nowa, he's just trying to provoke you." I whispered to her.

"I know but...I'm trying my best." She crossed her arms. "I'm doing my best." She whispered back.

"And it's going well. You know it's all their fault and we'll get them for it."

"..." She glanced over at me and gave me a sad smile.

"Now then!" Ganache yelled with conviction. He had a giant grin on his face, one that felt dangerous. "There are a couple great people here today that I'd like to personally give a great gift to." The robot began to make noises, signalling it's start up. "I truly love them." The robot's arm went and grabbed a sword on it's back. "So much so I CAN'T STAND IT!" The robot jumped up and landed on the convention floor. Literally a few inches from a couple people. This set people off.

"Dammit! He's gonna attack us here?!" Nowa ran first into the crowd. Every normal person in the room began to run out.

"Aw come on! I can't get through." I tried running into the battle but the crowd kept pushing me back. I looked back to my crew... but they weren't there. "Huh? HUH?" Everyone had already meet up with Nowa in the battle with the robot. "How?!" _Am I really that slow?_ After forcing my way through, I ended up a couple meters away from everyone. "Jeez. That was really unnes-" As I walked to where the others were a giant axe lodged itself in my way. "You've gotta be kidding me." I looked up and sure enough, it was a killachine blocking my way. "Well then... Can I go through?"

"ROAR!" The machine's voice screeched and began swinging the axe around, attempting to hit me. Every time i dodged it was by a hair's margin.

"Agh! That dude really wants to kill me?!" _This must be Ganache's doing!_

"Arc! I'm-" Nowa yelled, trying to get to me when the machine she was busy with suddenly focused on her. "Dammit. Let me through!"

"I-I'll be fine guys!" _I can do this on my own. I have to._ The machine stopped swing at me and decided to instead strike me with it's tail, which was a successful hit. "God dammit!" _I'm weak to getting hit!_ The attack threw me into the wall behind me. After getting struck by it, I was fell on the ground face first. "*Cough* Shit. Well that's unfortunate." I closed my eyes for a second.

00

"Jeez. That sure was quick, wasn't it?" The Goldman ridiculed with what I'm sure would be a stupid grin on his face.

"Oh shut up. Just let me go back now."

"No can do kiddo." For the first time since I met him, he stood up from his chair. "Ya see, this is the perfect chance to do this."

"But I've got to-"

"The world has stopped moving. Don't worry about it man."

"What?!"

"Time has stopped outside."

"How?!"

"Magic shit dude. Holy fuck! Can I talk?" I reluctantly nod. "Sheesh. Ok then. Time for the big reveal." The golden fog around Goldman began to fade away. As it did I was able to see all of him. He looked to be a man in his mid twenties. He had short golden hair and golden eyes. He wore a white T-shirt with about three golden necklaces around his neck. He wore some strange looking blue pants that sorta resembled jeans but not really. His appearance yelled aristocrat. But he did look like a nice guy.

"Oh. So you're some high ranking official from back in the day or something."

"Haha. Nah. I wish." He put a hand through his hair and smiled. "My name is Nes. I'm the man who saved Gamindustri and the former King of the world."

"...I'm so surprised."

"Aw come on."


	21. Chapter 20

My heart was racing. My arms were weak. My hands were sweating.. "Mom's spaghetti. Kehehe" _Ah that's not even the lyrics._ I couldn't help but laugh. It was a great deterrent of the insane situation that I was in. "To think my stupid idea would get us this far..."

I stood in front a large black metallic door. I could hear the pouring rain from the other side of it. "*Sigh* I started this so I gotta finish it." I swung open the door which lead to the castle roof. "There you are, Lady Rei."

"So you finally came here, you damn piece of shit." I stood meters away from the soon to be former goddess of this world. She had long blue hair with a strange horn on the right side of her head and matching blue eyes. She wore a very revealing outfit that pushed up her decently sized breasts. Should I have met her in any other situation, I would have found her attractive. However, all I saw was a queen that needed to be taken down from her power. And all she saw was a pest that had bothered her for far too long.

"Lady Rei, just give yourself up. It will be better for both you and I should you surrender and let yourself be tried in court."

"You dare say that to me after you invade my capital?! This is all your damn fault! Everything was fine until you dared to question me!" She summoned a staff into her hand. "I'll kill you now you bastard!"

"Lady Rei, you know that you don't stand a chance against me." She flinched. "You have no shares left. The only reason why you're alive is because of your own tenaciousness."

"How do you know about shares?!"

"You were betrayed." Her grip on her staff tightened. "However that doesn't matter right now. You must come with me should you want to live." _I don't want to kill you._

"Are you fucking retarded?!" Lady Rei exploded. "I would rather die than live in a world where you live, bastard!" She began rushing towards me, staff above her head. _She's so weak that she can't even use magic. Let alone fly._

"I guess I truly am destined to kill you." I unsheathed the sword that I had on my waist and thrust it forward. Piercing Lady Rei right through her heart. "Sorry."

"...dammit..." Lady Rei's body began to fade away. "I just wanted everyone to live in peace."

"Lady Rei...you went about it the wrong way."

"...I don't need your sympathy, Nes." And with that, her entire body disappeared.

"..." I sheathed by blade and began to walk down to the castle interior. After a small walk, I was in the throne room where my army waited. "It's over. This world is now a world for the people." A roar of applause followed my words. Honestly surprising me. Suddenly an arm wrapped itself around my neck.

"Ya did it bro! Nice nice, Nesy-chan!" My best friend and right hand man, Cap said. He was always a carefree guy, which was rare and refreshing when in the middle of war. He was decently built for an idiot.

"Don't call me that." I wiggle my body so his arm would drop off.

"Sheesh. Come on man! We just won back Gamindustri! Isn't this cause for celebration?!" I look at my army. Most of them were unharmed due to the severe lack of any opponents to fight on Lady Rei's side. There was only a small faction that Cap and his group had been able to get rid of easily.

"What are the numbers?"

"*sigh* Fine. Zero dead, fifty injured. Zero fatal injuries."

"Glad to hear that. What of the prisoners?"

"That scientist gave himself up." He spoke of the man that we had cornered and who had given us the info about Shares. "A couple low level troopers and a knight."

"Alright. When we get back, try the scientist and the knight. Let the troopers go."

"Are you sure? They may betray our trust."

"You know just as much as I do that those troopers weren't fighting because they believed in Lady Rei's cause. They simply wanted to live. Let them live normal lives when we get back."

"I knew you'd say that you big softy." Cap began harassing me again.

"Dammint! Sthap it!" As I attempted to pull Cap off of me, our strategist, Contra walked over. She was one of the first members of our little rebellion and almost always stayed in the back lines, yelling orders. Something that went great with her personality.

"Lord Nes, we must discuss how we will rebuild the government." She pushed her blond black hair behind her ear.

"*Sigh* Don't call me Lord. We've known each other for forever."

"I say we make this guy king!" Cap yelled.

"Are you stupid? I don't have the skills to be a king."

"On the contrary, Lord Nes." Contra pushed up her glasses. "You're charismatic, kind, brave and most importantly you put the will of the people ahead of yours."

"If I didn't know any better, you'd sound like you're confessing to me."

"I have a boyfriend sir."

"I'm joking..."

"Joking? What's that?"

"Oh my god. You know what? You guys decide what will happen with the government. I just need to sleep." I begin to walk out the castle. As I made it to my wagon I could feel like I would regret those choice of words.

And you know what? I did. Two years later, I was crowned king of Gamindustri. A title that I had never believed would be real, let alone given to me.

"Ugh. How did this happen?" I ask myself as I walked in the forest behind our castle. The new capital of the world was decided to be to the west of Gamindustri central, where the last capital was. The reason was because it was my home town. The place I and the rebellion was born. We had re-purposed an old Tari Manor to be the castle. One not too small, but not to big. Something that a modest king would have. If I could call myself that.

Eventually, I ended up finding a nice little pond in the middle of the forest, one that really showed the beauty of this world. I sat, leaning on a tree trunk and looked out onto the pond. It had been the middle of summer. Meaning that it had already been the half a year since I became king of the world. "But what am I gonna do about the next king? It's not like I have queen. Or show any signs of finding one. Damn you gods for giving me no luck with love!"

"So this is the king of Gamindustri. Well, I guess you are better than that mistake." A female voice called out to me.

"W-What? Who's there?" On the other side of the pond, a strange figure popped seemingly out of nowhere. It was the silhouette of a woman, however the woman was surrounded by a strange white fog that made it impossible to see any part of her. "Who, or what, are you?"

The woman brought her hand to where her mouth should be and giggled into it. "Are you scared, little innocent king?"

"Tch." _**Gate: B-**_

"Ah, The Gate, huh? Don't worry, I'm not threat."

"You know of the Gate?"

"Of course. Who do you think blessed this power upon to you?"

"..." The Gate is a strange power that I suddenly gained the ability to use when I was crowned king. I had never had any ability to use any kind of magic like everyone else I knew. So it was a very strange when I learned I could use it. But I didn't pay much attention to it. It didn't matter where it came from as long as I could use it.

"The ability to summon any weapon ever created from thin air. All from a golden puddle that simply shows where you want it to. You can summon a weapon as a means of hand to hand combat or use the puddles to throw out the weapons like projectiles, only for it it appear back into the Gate after it's use." The woman was definitely testing me. She knew too much and was able to hide who she truly was.

"I will ask you again. Who are you?"

"I am the God for whose mistake you had cleaned up." The woman laughed at my confused face. "You still don't get it? You truly are dense."

"Just spit it out dammit."

The woman disappeared for moment then showed up at my side. Scaring me and forcing me to stand up. "I am the true goddess of this world. I don't really have a true name as of yet. So you may call me CPU World."

"True goddess? CPU World?" The woman sighed.

"I am the creator of this world and the CPUs. I came here to thank you for killing CPU Tari."

"You mean lady Rei? Wait are you god?!"

"Not really. Eh, it's complicated." She sat down from where I was earlier. "So then, I heard that you-"

"Wait wait wait wait wait! What the hell are you?! Why are you here?!"

"Calm down King. It doesn't matter whether or not you understand at this moment. You will soon. Just let me talk, ok?"

I take a deep breath. "V-Very well."

"Good. Now then, I heard that you were worried about the next for the throne."

"You heard that because I literally just said that." She cringed for a second. "You aren't as impressive as I thought."

"Shut up or I'll burn you alive."

"Ok, do it." She shook her hands like a little kid trying to use the force. After a couple seconds of nothing she gave up.

"I hate you."

"Damn, Lady W. You suck."

"W?"

"There is no way in hell I'm gonna call you CPU World. You'll never be able to be as cool as Dio."

"I can stop time though!"

"I don't care. You're not a stand."

"You have terribly high expectations." She sighed. "Back on topic, how would you like for me to fix that for you?"

"U-Um. W-What?" I could feel my cheeks begin to burn.

"You stinking Pervert." She stood up again. "What I mean is that I'm offering you immortality!"

"Immortality?"

"You know, never dying? To be more specific, you will not age. Similar to CPU Tari."

"I don't know..." Lady W giggled and turned what I think is her back to me.

"I will visit you again within a week. Please let me know by then whether or not you want this deal." And with a snap of her finger, she disappeared.

"..." The week following was a strange one. For once, I had actually done some soul searching, something that I had never thought that I would have to do. Even as a king. I had to think about my people, what they would want. And what I would want.

I sat in my bedroom, a week after my first encounter with Lady W. "So have you made up your mind?"

"Holy fuck!" I fell off of my bed. Lady W had appeared laying down next to me on my bed. "Why do you do this?!"

"Haha! Because it's fun to mess with you. Now then, have you made your decision?"

"Yea... I-"

"Before you answer, I want to give you a warning."

"You couldn't have told me this a week ago?"

"Nah. Anyway, you do realize what will happen should you say yes to this? Your friends will grow old and die while you stay young and healthy. You will be criticized by your people for not being human anymore. Wars will surely come and go. You will essentially be getting rid of your humanity for your world."

"Why did you even ask me this then?" Her head slumped over. "What if I become like Lady Rei?"

"I'm sure you won't be."

"What do you mean?"

"You know the rules of this world. You know when a revolution is on the rise..."

"What are you-"

"I want you to live until the next revolution is coming. I need to ask you this. I can't let another CPU Tari to happen."

"So she was your fault." She sighed. "Lady Rei's fall, was it planned?"

"No." She sat up in the bed, getting more comfortable. "I was planning on taking care of her myself. However, you ended up showing up and doing what was needed. Thank you for that."

"I did it for the world. Lady Rei needed to stop."

"..." She turned her head to me. "Why do you still call her 'Lady Rei'? Do you not hate her?"

"Lady Rei may have been terrible near her end, but I heard stories of her when she was nice. Although she went about it the wrong way, she still had a decent motive. She cared about her people. She just lost her way. I had always had some respect for her, but as a King of the world, I respect her even more. She had a lot of things to worry about."

"I have a feeling that if you two met a different way, you two would have been together."

"H-Huh?! Nah..."

"Oh yea, she woulda been all over you. Maybe she would have changed the way she did things should you two meet sooner." _Lady Rei..._ "But that's impossible to know now. Now then, will you be my revolution?"

"Why me?" I finally stood up from the floor that I had been lying down on. I sat down on the side of the bed. "Why do I have to live to find a revolution?"

"This world is doomed to stagnation. It will move forward and stop until a new revolution can come along and force the world forward. I can only trust you with this."

"But what if I go crazy with power?"

She giggled and moved over to where I sat, sitting next to me."I personally think that you're too stupid to do that."

"Well ha ha." Lady W giggled.

"Do you accept?"

"Yea, why not?" Lady W jumped for a second. "Surprised?"

"A little...are you sure?"

"Yeah. I want to help this world as much as I can. I'm gonna be counting on you though. You're gonna end up being the only constant in my life...ok?"

"Hehe. Fine fine. I'll do what I have to. Just don't fall in love with me."

"I love you." Lady W jumps up from the bed. "It's just a joke."

"I-I know! Hmph! I'm the smartest person in the world after all."

"Sure." I chuckled as Lady W made different huffs and puffs.

"Idiot." She placed her hand on my head. "I'll be counting on you...and I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, Lady W. I'll be fine." I grabbed her hand from my head. "Just keep me company, will ya?"

"*Sigh* I'd feel bad if I didn't." And so I became an ever living King. A king that is doomed to see his kingdom fall. But I was fine with it. As long as I can bring my citizens into the next phase of the world.

The next phase of the world was close two hundred years later. I realized this on the day of my birthday. "Man, two hundred twenty five years old, eh? Pretty awesome huh?" I sat by myself on a picnic blanket in front of two gravestones. A tradition that I've held true to do every year on the same day. "Happy Birthday to me!"

"This truly is a sad sight to see." W appeared behind me.

"You're late! Did you bring my snacks?" She tossed a small paper bag at me. "Yay! Cotton candy time!"

"*Sigh* Can't you at least act your age?"

"That means being a corpse." I wolfed down the deliciousness that was blue berry cotton candy. "Mmm~ The best."

"I can't help but feel like you've digressed instead of aged. You're way less mature than you were when I met you." W took a load off and sat next to me. "How're they doing?"

"They're doing fine. They're gravestones are clean. I already laid down the offering and payed my respects." The gravestones were for my two best friends in the world. Cap and Contra. To my surprise, they ended up getting married. "They could've at least told me first. Not surprise me."

"Don't get all sentimental on me. Please...it really brings me down." W pulled her legs to her chest. Of course, even after two hundred years of knowing each other I've still never seen her true form.

"Gotcha." I wiped a tear off of my cheek and chow down the rest of the cotton candy. "Hey W, I wanna make a deal with you."

"Hm? What's this about? You haven't asked more for anything, literally ever." Her voice was oozing with sarcasm.

"This is the final request I have for you."

"Ha! Like I'd beli-"

"After this I'll die." I interrupt her. After a couple of seconds, letting it set in I received a palm to my face. "OW WHY?!"

"At least tell me..." Her voice was choppy.

"Sorry. But it's coming. The next phase of the world. And I have a feeling this is the second to last one. I can see how this world will play out now." W rubs her hand against her cheeks, Apparently wiping away the tears that I was unable to see.

"What is it? What is the next phase of the world?"

"Four goddesses. One for each part of this world. They will work together to keep this world safe."

"Goddesses again? If you remember, it didn't work out so well last time."

"That's why I said four dummy." This got me a punch in the arm. "I may have deserved that."

"Idiot." W sighed heavily. "So in order to have the next phase...you have to die? Why? Can't a king exist in a world with goddesses?"

"Of course they can. But I'm not in that phase. To bring out the next one, I have to die in order to bring the new leaders of this world."

"What did you mean by of course they can?"

"No fair. You're jumping ahead." I lean back onto my hands. "That's the final phase. A king with no power. A king whose only reason to exist is to assist the goddesses and live along side them."

"I see. The king will be the final check. To protect the new goddesses and make sure they don't go crazy like Rei."

"Exactly! Now you're getting it!" I lean more into my hands. Eventually going into a complete lying position. "Now then. The final thing to do is transfer my abilities to the next King. That's where you come in."

"What do you mean?"

"I want you to get rid of everything I have. Gate, the immortality, everything."

"Even-"

"Yes, even that."

"Then...what of you?"

"Easy. I will live out the rest of my life preparing the world for the transfer to the new government system. I'll start the building of the countries and rebuild the image of goddesses into the citizens minds." W was silent for a moment. "What's up? Is it a bad plan?"

"No. It's good. I trust you completely. It's just...you'll die."

"I've lived long enough. I think it's my time."

"I don't want you to die..." W threw herself onto me.

"W-What?!"

"Idiot! Don't say you didn't see this coming. I spent the last two hundred freaking years with you! Of course I'm in love with you."

"Impossible! I thought I had no charm."

"Of course you don't."

"How rude."

"It's just... you do to me. So I don't want you to die..."

"Hey. There's always Celestia. You could always force me into there after it's my time." Celestia was the realm where W called home. The world that was above Gamindustri, yet on a different plane. It was the realm for the dead. With one plane of it's existence for the citizens who died and the other for the goddesses.

"Huh. You're right." She sat up. "F-Forget what I just said."

"Kaha! Love ya too." I place my hand on her head.

"Guh! I jumped to conclusions! Dammit!" W grabbed my hand and hummed for a second. "There. You better help me find the new king when the time comes."

"Of course. I'll teach the next King's Candidate myself." And so, eighty years later, the world began it's next phase. A world that is now on the course of its new phase. That's where you come in, Arc.

* * *

When I opened my eyes it felt like I had woken up from one of those super long feeling dreams. "Huh. That's a lot less surprising than I thought."

"Huhhhhhhh?! No fair! I thought you'd respect me a bit more." It turns out I had a super weird, long dream when in the white void with Nes.

"Nope You're still the weirdo in my head. Just turns out that you're king weirdo." Nes pouted and slide down his chair. _So he does do that a lot. I fucking knew it._ "So what, was that like the highlights of your life or something?"

"Yup. How'd you like the sex scene?"

"WHAT?!" A voice that I had become recently familiar with yelled through the air. Next to Nes' throne a woman shaped silhouette appeared. "You showed him that?!" W, goddess of the world.

"Nope. I just wanted you to show up. Ugh!" W's hands wrapped themselves around Nes' neck. "Please no!"

"Ugh! Why can't I kill the dead?!" W let go of Nes, resulting in him gasping for air.

"It still hurts!" Nes rubs his neck. "Honey, why?"

"Don't say that at this moment you idiot!" W smacks Nes across the head.

"Kehehe. Sorry."

"Umm. I'm still here, kinda in the middle of a tough fight as well."

"Oh. Sorry." I gain their attention and Nes sat up in his throne. "So then, before I send you back, I'd like to ask you a question. Would you like to become the King's candidate?" _King's candidate..._

"What does it entail? Will I have to same responsibilities as you did?"

"Oh no! Definitely not! You have no skill for that whatsoever." _I wanna punch him so hard._ "Basically what you will be doing is the same as you are right now. Protecting the CPUs and assisting them. All the while making sure they don't accidentally destroy the world."

"I can't help but feel like this is a bit much..."

"Eh. You'll be fine, I hope!" _This guy dosen't believe in me one bit...but whatever._ "Plus, you get an excuse to hang around the girl that you like!"

"What are you talking about?" He gets a smug grin on his face.

"Oh come on. You can't honestly tell me that you aren't in love with one of those girls."

"Of co-" The face of a girl I was all too familiar with flashed in my mind, making my heart skip a beat. "Y-You gotta be kidding me."

"Haha! I knew it! I win, W"

"Tch. I knew I shouldn't have be against you." _Did these two make a bet for my love life?! Man dead people have too much time._

"*Sigh* Fine. I guess I'll do it. I've got nothing better to do with my life anyway."

"Now that's just sad." W said under her breath, but loud enough for me to hear.

"Oh shut up." I take a deep breath. This was all a lot of information to handle, but what did I expect of this crazy world. "So if I'm a candidate does that mean that I'm not at the king level or something."

"This world is in dire need of a king. However, we can't just let anyone become a king. Even if you do fit the extremely specific qualifications, we still need you to take a test."

"Written? Aw man. I haven't studied in years."

"No, not written." W spoke up. "You're first test is to destroy the link between your world and the world of Celestia."

"Huh? The two worlds are connected?"

"They weren't at first. However, a certain middle aged, purple skinned witch connected the worlds. If the link is destroyed then I can prevent it from ever happening again."

"Ugh. Can't you just do it."

"That destroys the entire purpose of a test, Cunt."

"Oh. Spicy lady, huh?" I could feel her staring daggers at me. "Fine. I'll try my best to meet your absurdly high expectations of me."

"Good!" Nes claps his hands and I feel a strange glow on my eyes for a second. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared. "Welcome to the club! I have just gifted to you all of the abilities I had during my life. Although you may be unable to use most of them for a while. You are super weak."

"Y-Yeah." Even though he says that I do feel ridiculously stronger than before. _Maybe I can take down that Killachine now...that'd show em! They'll have to pay me back after I do that! Maybe._ "Alright. Before I go back, I'd like to know something."

"Shoot." The strange couple said.

"Are you guys the reason why I don't remember anything from before I ended up on Leanbox?"

"Oh? That? Absolutely not." Nes waved me off.

"I'm sorry, what mate?"

"We have nothing to do with that weird past you got. But it's meaningless."

"M-Meaningless?! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I guarantee you that it's not important and will definitely not affect your life from now on. Just forget about it." W waved me off.

"That's just ridiculous! I've got to have some cool mysterious past right?!"

"Oh no. Absolutely not. It's super boring. Bye now."

"Wait what?! That's stupid! You're stupid!" With a snap of her fingers, W sent my consciousness fading.


	22. Chapter 21

**AN: Well, next update! Yay!**

 **Review talk: Dark7- Well, good to know that I exceeded your expectations of me!**

* * *

"Arc!"

"Dammit! We can't get to him!" I heard yelling as I woke up again. I was lying on the ground with the taste of blood in my mouth.

"Man, that sure took a while." I tried to get up, only to be able to get onto my knees. "Dammit. I forgot how hurt I am." I looked up and saw the Killachine rush to me, throwing down it's axe to my head. _God dammit! If I've got power then stop it!_

As I thought this, the sound of metal clashing rang. A sword had appeared literally out of thin air to stop the axe. It was held in a strange gold colored poodle in the mid air. "What was that?!" Ganache's voice yelled from off screen.

"Hehehahahaha! Aw man! That's awesome!" _If it's just as it was described in Nes' life then..._ " **Gate: Open!** " About twelve puddles appeared behind me. Each with different swords in them. "Aw yeah! Let's- shit!" I fell from my knees and face planted on the floor. _Why do I feel so drained... ah shit! Of course it's cuz I'm weak._ "Launch!"

Each sword rained down on the Killachine. Each sword logging itself into the joints of the machine. "Maybe I can still do this." I forced myself on my feet. "You can't move huh... Well then let's end this." I began slowly walking to the Killachine that was struggling to move. _Ugh! My legs feel like lead. Man, this powers is totally not worth it._ I began to feel a strange feeling in my hand. Like a type of instinct. _Alright then. Fine._

" **EXE: Drive! EA** " A golden hilt appeared behind my right hand. I grabbed it and pulled. Out came out a strange looking sword. It had a large golden hilt with a guard that covered my entire hand. The blade was segmented into three parts. It was a thick circle were separated by small gaps between the thirds. Once I had pulled the sword out completely, the parts of the circle started to spin at a high velocity. "It's Nerf or Nothing!" I swung the blade at the monstrosity of a machine. The sword let out a roar of red energy that sliced the machine in half and even traveled all the way to the back of the machine that the girls were fighting, slightly damaging it. "Woah! That was really awesome and powerful! I guess I'll never use that again cuz I wanna die now."

I fell the the ground with a thud, as I did the swords that I had somehow summoned appeared to be disintegrating into golden dust. "Dammit! Get out of my way!" Nowa yelled. Next thing I heard was an explosion. _Well she sure is serious when she wants to be._

"Y-You've gotta be kidding me! Since when did that _human_ have that power?!" Ganache yelled.

"We'd like to know that as well. But after we apprehend you." Vert said. I couldn't really tell what was happening with the whole depleted for energy stick, but things didn't sound-

"Arfoire! Teleport us out!"

"SHIT! He got away!" Blanc yelled. _Well they sure are resourceful. Wait, where was Arfoire? Does it matter? Probably not. Does it annoy me? To no end._

"That doesn't matter now." Nowa's normal voice sounded out. I heard boots clicking against the floor coming closer. "D-Darling? Are you ok?"

"Nah, I'm sorta dead." My face laid neatly against the floor and it was hurting my nose quite a bit. "Can you help me up?"

"Y-Yea." Nowa grabbed my shoulders and brought me up to a sitting position against one of remaining chairs in the room. "How do you feel?"

"Can't move a muscle. Quite literally." I tried moving my fingers only to get nothing. "Fuck man. That sure is a drawback. Gonna need to be more careful with that..."

"What in the puddin hell was that anyway Arcy?!" Neptune, back in her annoying form had yelled.

"Uhhh. A new power that the protagonist had awakened to in his time of need!"

"Seems pretty useless to me." Vert commented. "I mean look at you. You're helpless now and that wave wasn't even that powerful. A single SP skill from us has the same power as one of those."

"Yeah yeah. I get it. I'm a weak shit."

"To be honest that was pretty impressive though." Iffy walked up. She looked to be a bit more injured than the rest of the girls, but only by a bit. "I mean, he was able to defeat a Killachine. Something that he'd never be able to do before."

"I must agree! Lord Arc did quite well for a rookie!"

"Well thanks for the patronizing compliments guys. I totally feel better." Blanc didn't say a word. She just sat down and took out a large book. Compa on the other hand was busy healing up everyone else.

"Arcy, do you need healing?"

"Nah. I'm good. My weird body should heal itself up pretty soon. But until then, I'm completely hopeless." I felt a sudden chill run down my spine. Neptune, Vert and Iffy had a strange sparkle in their eyes. "G-Guys?!"

"Hmmm. I wonder... he's completely helpless."

"But Lady Vert... it'd be rude."

"Nah Iffy. It'll be fine. He'll forgive us. Hehehe" _W-What are they planing?! NO!_

"Hey! No." MAGES. suddenly lifts me up with some sort of telepathy. "We must see to Lord Arc's recovery first before anything. I'd like to know more about his new power than have you girls do THAT."

"Wait, what's that?! What are you guys talking about?!"

"N-Nothing D-Darling. You won't have to worry about it. Just sleep."

"HEY! I feel like I'm being left out of something very important!"

"Sleep spell!" My eyes forced themselves shut. _GOD DAMMIT._

* * *

My eyes opened to a scenery I was quite familiar with. A couch, pink wallpaper, a large TV and pink pajamas on my body. "Compa's house? Wait, how did my clothes change?!" I slid my body to a sitting up position. "Hmmm. I can move again, that's a plus. But my body still feels like lead. Ugh." I stand and stretch, then make my way to the kitchen. As I approach I can hear dishes being moved. "Mornin."

"Ah." In the room was Blanc, enjoying a cup of coffee. "So you're finally up."

"How long was I out? Ten, twenty hours?"

"Three days."

"AGAIN?!" _Well there goes three days I'll never get back. Well, not that it matters if I'm like Nes now._

"Arc, have you heard of King Nes?"

"H-Huh?" Blanc set down her cup of coffee and sighed.

"I did a bit of research on the power that you used. It seemed familiar to me, especially that EXE move. Apparently they are identical to the former king of the world Nes' SP skills. Aka, the forgotten savoir of this world."

"C-Cool. Sooooo?"

"You wouldn't happen to be the King's Candidate would you?" A heavy sigh came out of my mouth.

"Why does everyone know about shit that I don't?" I sit down at the table and Blanc pushes a cup of coffee to me. "Thanks. Anyway, how did you figure this out?"

Blanc took out a book from under her chair. It was a large text book with a old style painting on it that looked a bit like Nes. "This is apparently the legend of King Nes. A strangely well documented story of his life. So much so that the general public thinks that it is nothing but a big fairy tale. But seeing you makes me think otherwise." _So even the goddesses weren't certain of his existence?_

"*Sigh* Of course I tipped you off. Well at the very least it saves me time from explaining and convincing you guys." I took a large sip of coffee. "Ugh! So bitter! Now I remember why I hate coffee."

"Don't be a child." Blanc pushes a couple packs of sugar to me.

"So...where is everyone?" Instead of putting the sugar in I just give up.

"Well, several places. Compa and Noire went out to go look for stuff to wake you up. Iffy and Neptune went to do something that they refused to tell me. Mages-"

"It's MAGES.."

"I don't give a rats ass. Mages is out looking for a soda. And Vert...is doing Vert things. I was in charge of making sure you didn't die."

"Well, thanks for that I guess. Sorry for being baggage..."

"It's not a problem. I'm just glad you're ok." She went back to reading the book in her hand. _Jeez. I guess I really have no other choice than to help these 're way to nice to me._ I grabbed the textbook of Nes and flipped through it. _I see the problem with his legacy now. No one thinks that he's real anymore...he's just a story now. Damn, that's fucked up. That's like saying these girls are nothing but video game characters. That'd be fucked up. Man, I'd hate to be just a character in a story. Right guy? Wait! That was just contradictory!_

The front door slowly opened. "I'm home~" Compa's almost diabetes causing sweet voice rang out. "Ballny, where are you?"

"I'm in the kitchen."

"I-I think I should check up on him first." Nowa's voice rang from down the hall.

"At least drop off the groceries in the kitchen." Compa scolded.

"*Sigh* Fine..." Nowa opened the door to the kitchen and walked directly to the table. She dropped the groceries right next to me. "Hi Darling. If you'd excuse me." Nowa dashed out the door. "WAIT A MINUTE!" She dashed back. "D-Darling?! You're awake!" Nowa threw her arms around my neck. "I'm so glad you're ok! I was so worried."

"N-Nowa! I-I just woke up! Please, can't breath!" Nowa jumped off.

"S-Sorry." Nowa jumped off of me with her face scorching red. "H-How'd you sleep?"

"Well I guess? I didn't really have any dreams or anything." _I half expected Nes to scold me or something but nothing. Well, save me the trouble of dealing with that child._ "How're you?"

"I-I-I'm well!" She yelled.

"Hehe. Glad to hear that." Smoke came out of Nowa's head.

"A-A-A-"

"So then, your Majesty, are you hungry?" Compa dropped of the bags she held on the table.

"So you told them, huh?"

"It saves you the time of explaining. Remember?" Blanc sipped her coffee.

"Except now I've gotta explain how this happened."

"I'm quite curious of that as well, D-Darling."

"I'll explain it when everyone comes back. " The front door slammed open.

"I'M BACK BABY!"

"Of course." After several minutes of dealing with everyone's surprise at my awakening we moved to the living room. Where the four goddesses sat side by side on the couch. Iffy and Compa sat on either side of the couch with MAGES. just floating. "*Sigh* This is gonna be a pain." I sat in front of the TV on the floor.

"I want pudding!"

"Later Neptune. I'd like to hear Cutie's amazing story."

"It's not really a big story. It started the day before I met Neptune and Compa. That night I had a strange dream of a man shrouded in golden fog. He is the spirit of Nes, former king of the world. Of course I didn't know that at the time."

"So you were essentially having dreams of a spirit. Sound's quite protagnatisty." At MAGES. comment, Neptune sucked her teeth.

"I've got a Histy talking to me."

"Neptune this isn't a competition. Although I am obviously the protagonist."

"Fight me IRL."

"Anyway, the guy would tell me some random shit about the King though various dreams that I'd have on random days. It was pretty stupid. Turns out he was just checking in on me and one thing led to another, I'm the King's Candidate."

"Well, that sure was fast. And Boring." Blanc commented. "I wish we got something juicy. What was he like?"

"He's a lot like Neptune."

"Word?"

"Word, Neptune. He's pretty childish and gets excited by stupid shit. That guy never shut up about my love life."

"Huh?!" Iffy, Neptune and Nowa leaned forward. "Love life?!"

"Yeah, the guy would pester me on if I had a crush or something. Pretty Anoy-"

"DO YOU?!"

"H-Huh?" I coughed into my hand. "No comment."

"Huhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?! Aw come on. Don't be like that. Just tell us who you love." Neptune got right into my face.

"I never said that I had feelings for anyone. I just want to keep my feelings to myself. And give me space dammit." I pushed Neptune out of my personal aera.

"Meanine."

"Can we get to the important stuff. Did anything happen when I was knocked out"

"All that you need to know is that we got the last Key Fragment. Yay!" Vert stood up from the couch. "Now then. Lunch."

"Then what are we doing here?! We should go get Histoire."

"D-D-Darling. We can't. Especially with you in such a condition."

"I'm fine."

"You can't fool me. I know that you can't move very well. It took you twice as long to push Neptune away than usual."

"Maybe it's just cuz I won Lonely Heart. You never know~"

"I refuse to think that You had won! He didn't say a word." Neptune only gave Nowa a smug smile and walked into the kitchen. "Tch. She didn't win, right Darling?"

"Huh? I think?" Nowa smiled and stood up.

"I won't give up." _Huh? Why am I the only one ever out of the loop._

"Anyway, I'm hungry." I tried to stand up only to all on my butt again. "..."

"Told you."

"Ugh."


	23. Chapter 22

I laid down the the couch in Compa's house. Exhausted. The girls had all gone out to do things that they refused to tell me, leaving me all by my lonesome. In the time that I had, I tried my best to reuse the power that I had gained, Gate. Only to be able to summon a single sword at a time. I was also completely unable to summon EA. I knew exactly why. Every time I tried to summon another sword or EA, I was to exhausted for it to come out. It's peak out only to disappear. "Why's it always just the tip?! That's inappropriate." I sighed and let go of the Blood Scythe in my hand. The moment it touched the ground it dissipated into golden particles.

" _You can't honestly tell me that you aren't in love with one of those girls."_

"Ugh. Shut up!" I screamed at my memory. Since that day, Nes' comment was stuck in my mind, along with the girl who I happen to care for. "Shit... god dammit mind! Stop it!" My mind just wouldn't stop racing. "Ughhhh Stop it! She's not that...she is." I was so embarrassed I could feel Nes looking at me with a smug grin. "It's all that damn King's fault. Dammit." I sat up and slapped my knees. _Focus! But..._ "Agh. I need to sleep." My body had recovered and felt like normal, but it seemed like extended use of the Gate when I'm this weak causes my body to feel sluggish and hard to move. My arms were already beginning to feel heavy and I had only successfully summoned three swords. _Looks like I need more training...what a pain in the ass. Since when did protagonists with amazing powers become forced to train?!_

I laid down on the couch and threw covers over myself. After a couple minutes the loving arms of sleep began to wrap itself around me.

"I'M HOME!" _God dammit._ With a slam of the front door, Neptune had singhandely scared away the thing I was looking forward to. _Man, maybe death isn't that bad. At least I get to sleep._ I could hear a jumble of footsteps make their way to the living room, where I slept. Opening the door, was the strange trio of Neptune, Iffy and Noire. "GOOOOD MORNIN~"

"I'm forced to baby sit this girl forever..."

"Hey! Don't say it like it's bad...is it bad?"

"I signed up for it so I can't really complain at the moment." Neptune shone a great, big smile and jumped onto me. "Neptune!"

"Gehehehe! Spoil me!" I tried pulling the girl off of me but my arms were too fucked up.

"Guy, can you-" Looking up for help, I was given two glares. "G-Guys?"

"I'm quite hungry. IF, why don't we have lunch." Nowa and Iffy walked into the kitchen, leaving me on my own.

"Ugh! G-Get off!" After a good five minutes of pushing, Neptune finally let go and ran to eat. I merely walked in and sat at the table. "So you guys bought lunch?" Iffy nodded and pushed a plate of food to me. It was a strange rice dish that was filled with veggies. "Are there Peppers...or tomatoes in here?"

"Yea. Why?" Iffy's innocent voice made me want to cry. _I guess I never told her, huh._

"*Sigh* I'm not hungry. " I pushed the plate back and rested my head on the table.

"You sure?"

"Yea." My stomach made a growled. "I'm sure."

"B-But-"

"I knew you this would happen." Nowa reached into the bag of food and pushed a small box to me. When I opened it, it was full of plain rice. "They had nothing else, so this is gonna be all you get."

"Hehe. Thanks for think of me Nowa! Now then, time to chow down."

"W-Wha-! Idiot..." Nowa went back to eating her food.

"Damn." I heard Neptune and Iffy say under their breaths.

"We got any ketchup or some-" Instantly Neptune pulled a bottle out of thin air. "...Not gonna ask but thanks."

"Nep always comes through!"

"Tch." After a weirdly quiet lunch, I asked the only question on my mind.

"So when are we gonna go save Histoire?"

"Oh right. I guess tomorrow." Iffy said as she put her plate in the sink.

"You guess?"

"Well, we didn't really think about when. We were just waiting for you to recover. Are you set, D-Darling?"

"I guess. The Gate doesn't exactly work the same way as last time but that's probably because Nes helped. I can fight a bit better than before. But I'm still not reliable."

"That's fine! We never relied on you in the first place." Neptune's smile as she said that really hurt.

"Just eat your pudding." She shrugged and followed my request. "*Sigh*..."

"It's fine, Arc. You come through when you have to. Plus, you're more of a moral support guy than anything."

"Thanks Iffy, I guess." _It's more like I replaced Projections with using the real things from the Gate. Not that the weight changed or anything. The swords are just a bit stronger. I just replaced how I summon my weapons._ "Ugh. Where is everyone else anyway?"

"Good question. I'm surprised you weren't dragged along with Vert, IF." Iffy sighed.

"At least I get to breath for now." _I guess she get's_ _ **the hug**_ _as well. Vert, your cruelness knows no bounds, does it?_

"Ah, well. Doesn't really matter! I hope they bring me food." Neptune gobbled down her tenth cup of pudding in the last five minutes.

"You're a real glutton you know. It's a wonder how you haven't keeled over from a heart attack." The goddess with questionable intelligence ignored me and opened her eleventh cup. "*Sigh*" While Neptune, Nowa and Iffy chatted, my mind went over my test. _Stop the connection between Gamindustri and Celestia. How the hell am I gonna do that shit? I'm just a normal freaking guy. Jeez, maybe I should have declined._

After a couple minutes I went back to my couch and laid down for a nap, which I was promptly denied because Neptune HAD to watch her stories or whatever. "Hey Neptune, have you ever heard of Celestia?"

"Nah! What's that?" Neptune sat down on the floor. Which I was thankful for. The girl has a history of using me as a piece of furniture and it makes me feel weird.

"Apparently that's where the gods are born and has something to do with the King..."

"You've got the idea. But not really." Blanc suddenly appeared in the room.

"W-When did you get back?!"

"Just now. Didn't you hear us?"

"I did not."

"Just tell me! I wanna know about cool stuff!" Neptune interrupted. She wasn't even paying attention to the TV anymore.

"Ok, damn." Blanc motion to me to sit up. I complied and she sat on the right of me. "Celestia is something like the Goddesses sanctuary. Where we are able to just do whatever we feel like and live peacefully."

"Then why don't you guys live up there?"

"Because going in and out of there is very hard and, to be honest, it's quite boring. I don't know how that woman could possibly live there..."

"Woman?" I acted like I didn't know who she was speaking off. _If they found out that I knew about W, that'd mean a lot of explaining and exposing her relationship with Nes. Something that I feel like she's keeping secret if the girls didn't even know about him until recently._

"No one important. There's also the fact that we have a limited amount of times to even go there."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the entrance is really beat up from all the years it's been. So it's breaking down. With every time it opens, it breaks down more and more."

"So if it breaks, you guys won't be able to go there anymore?" _Sounds like an easy way to complete my mission._

"Yup. And it's not like it's a waste. Celestia is a thing of the past. The last time we went there was for..." Blanc seemed to curse to herself. She sighed and looked at me. "For the console war."

"So you guys went up there to fight? Why?"

"I don't know... like I said before. All of us have no memories of our lives before the console war and what happened during it. The last memory I have before waking up was fighting with Neptune and the door opening. With it saying one on it." _So they lost their memories, and Celestia only has one use left..._

"Hey, Blanc. Do me a favor and bring everyone here." She stared at me blankly for a second and then walked into the kitchen. After a minute or so, the group was all huddled together. "I've got a request for you guys."

"What's this about, D-Darling?"

"After we save Histoire, let's go to Celestia. "

"Celestia?! The world's last dungeon?! But why?!" MAGES. was, of course, making a scene.

"Because, I wanna know what the console war was about, and... I've gotta do something there."

"What might this entail?" Vert was definitely the most suspicious of me.

"Well, you guys wouldn't mind it if I broke the entrance of Celestia, would you?"

"Oh! That? Yea, do whatever. I thought you were gonna be evil. I'm sorry I doubted you my cutie~" Vert immediately ran to me and dug my face into her breasts. "How could I ever repay you, my little brother?!"

"Please...st..."

* * *

It was the next day. The eight of us stood outside the Basilicom of Planeptune. "Hey guys. Quick question. Why don't I remember anything from five PM yesterday and onwards?"

"N-No reason! So then, what's the plan?" Vert ignored my question and went right to the planning stage. _Eh, I guess it doesn't matter. But I could have sworn something happened..._

"Well, due to mine and Lady Vert's research and gathering of intelligence, we were able to find out that there is a strange stone tablet in a cyber dungeon, right off the coast of Planeptune." Iffy read off of notepad she had.

"Oh! That makes sense. I always felt like there was a weird thingy near the beaches. I guess it's cuz of that!" Neptune's interjection made me a bit annoyed. _If you felt that, you should have told us._

"So that's where Histoire is? Man, that's really annoying. She was right next to us the entire time..." I sigh and sit in the curb of the street. "Give me a break."

"Hey, you've got to do it. It's a king's duty!" Neptune teased.

"*Sigh* Yeah, yeah. Let's just get this over with." I was the first one to walk into the Basilicom. "Hey there Mr-"

"Loli child!" The receptionist immediately ran to Neptune and pulled her into a hug. "I missed you! You're so cute!"

"Hehehe! I know! Honor my cuteness!"

"Hey guy...we sorta need to-"

"G-Give me a minute." _This guy is totally a lolicon._ After a minute of letting him weirdly hug Neptune he went back to his "normal" self. "Ahem. Sorry about that. Anyway, what is is that you need?"

"Ok, lolicon, what we need to do is get to the...what's the place's name?"

"It's called the Fantasy Zone." Iffy reminded me.

"Yeah, that place." The receptionist typed on some keys of his computer.

"Alllllllllllllrighty then! A boat that will take you to the island with Fantasy Island will be leaving in thirty minutes."

"Hmmm..." I put my hand to my chin. "I'm tired."

 **Two Hours Later,**

"Well then. This sure is a place." We had made it to the Fantasy Zone. Thing is..."IT's FULL OF MONSTERS!"


	24. Chapter 23

**AN: First off, hello! I'd like to apologize for not updating on time. I was kind of busy cuz of memorial weekend. Sorry about that. But, the story's still here!**

 **Review Stuff) Authorian: Why thank you.**

 **AIYF: Wow, I never expected someone would like my story that much. Guess that means I've gotta try harder!**

 **Leyknar: *Sigh* I know my chapters are short. I've been trying to get better at longer chapters (The Nes chapter for one) but every time I get to a great end point it's at the same page length. I'll try my best to write longer chapters.**

 **Soberan: Sorry man. It's already been decided this chapter. But I do love IF, like a lot. But...story reasons.**

* * *

The dungeon was a strange type of cyber themed place. It looked like we stood on a platform in the middle of a giant vortex of ones and zeros. "Why is this place full of monsters?"

"What did you expect? A dungeon with no monsters? Come on System Works."

"I told you not to call me that, Neptune!"

"Kehehehe." The eight of us stood at the entrance of the place. Just from here, I could see a giant dolphin a couple meters away from here.

"Nope. Nope, NOPE!" I tried running out of the dungeon, but the back of my shirt was pulled, sending me back.

"This guy is the next King? The world is fucked." Blanc was the one who pulled me. "Get your act together or I'll get mad..."

"Y-Yes, Miss!" I pulled myself off the ground and brushed my clothes. "*SIgh* I can never get a break can I?" I felt a pat on my back.

"Don't worry about it, Partner. I'm sure you'll get used to it." Iffy leads the group forward, as I stay in the back.

"Easy for you to say." _I'm gonna have to deal with this for all of eternity aren't I? Fuuuuuck me._ After a good hour of walking and fighting (mostly running away for me) we somehow ended up in front of a giant stone pillar. "Well this sure is out of place." At the base of the pillar was a small stone table with a stone book on top of it.

"I see. It's the legendary-"

"No MAGES. it's not. Calm down." MAGES. sighed at my interjection. "But what the hell is this supposed to be? Another clue?" _I'm tired of all this clue shit. It makes me clueless. Does that even make sense? That damn King is rubbing off on me._

"Perhaps it's Histoire herself." Vert stopped my thoughts.

"What do you mean?" Nowa asked.

"Well, we just assumed that this Histoire was a person. Correct?"

"Huh?! No way! Histy's got to cute of a voice to be a book!"

"But a talking book would very interesting..." Blanc surprisingly had some enthusiasm in her voice.

"Ohohoho. The stoic goddess shows her true colors." That earned me a good punch in the gut. _I can feel my organs screaming._ "I-I deserved that..."

"You indeed did. Idiot." Blanc slapped my back and walked to the book. "Now then...when will-"

"Not so fast, you damn goddesses!""

"Ah there she is! The old hag herself."

"Shut your face, damn human!" Arfoire appeared behind the giant pillar in a cloud of dark purple smoke.

"Well that's just a waste of money." Neptune spouted as she got ready for battle. Taking out her katana.

"What do you want?! Are you ready to turn yourself in for trying to destroy my beloved country!" The leader of Lastation yelled.

"Or copying me and trying to turn my country against me." The brown haired CPU's eyes started to turn red.

"Or interrupt me form my video games?"

"Vert..." The tension from the whole situation instantly disappeared. Even Arfoire seemed disappointed. "That's what you took away from your arc? Not the whole, almost killing you, or Neptune, or taking your powers away? Just video games?"

"Why yes. Nothing is more important in this world than my rank on UnderClock and Last Story 14 MMO edition."

"..."

"Well I'm sorry."

"Can we get back to the story now?" I ask.

"*Sigh* Fine. Jeez. A girl can't have any fun, huh." Vert propped up her breasts and pouted, holding her spear lazily.

"Sooooo. Can I try to kill you all now?"

"Bet!" Neptune yells. "Come here, Purple Hag! I'll give you another ass kicking!"

"Ohohoho! No. I'm not that stupid. Especially that you have that _thing_ with you." She pointed at me. _Aw... now I feel sad. I'm not even that useful...AW I'm making myself feel worse!_ "Now then, come out! My baby born from hard work and tricking thousands of idiots!" _Well at least she's honest._ As Arfoire waved her strange spear pixels in the air began to come together and form a large figure. A large, red and black, four legged monster appeared. It had four arms, four bat wings, an eye for a head and a large mouth as it's crotch. "Behold. The legendary Overlord Momus."

"Ah shit. You're telling me that was real?!" Neptune immediately fell back and hid behind me. "Arc, take care of that."

"Hahaha, hell no! I want to live!"

"Muhahahaha! Now then, devour them! Momus!" Arfoire stood back as the battle with the legendary overlord Momus began. It made a B line right for me.

"Shit! Get away from me! **Gate: Blood Scythe**." A golden puddle appeared next to my extended right hand. Out of it came out the hilt of Blood Scythe. "Come at me!" I blocked the charge of the monstrosity with Blood Scythe's giant hunk of metal that supposed to be it's blade. The impact of the charge sent me flying, directly into a wall behind me. "Gah. That hurt!"

"Leave it to us, Darling!" The now transformed Nowa flew directly to the Overlord, along with the other goddesses, Iffy and Mages.

"I wanna reck his ass!" Blanc had to add. _She sure is something..._

"Hey I can fight too!" Compa suddenly appeared next to me.

"Arc, you need some medicine?" Her innocent question hurt me more than the collision with the wall did.

"...yes thank you very much." I begrudgingly took the green concoction out of Compa's hand and downed it. _Tastes like a runner's shoe mixed with dog drool. Why. Why me?_ I stood up and stretched. "Ok then."

"Don't get-"

"I will. You know I'll end up with some sort of injury by the end of this. It always happens. Always, without fail."

"You're right." Compa giggled and sent me off. _It's a wonder how I'm even alive._

"Alrighty then." I gripped Blood Scythe harder and snuck my way to Momus. Lucky for me, the guy was so huge that everything he touched turned to rubble. Giving me some places to hide.

I made my way to it's back. It was so distracted with the most powerful fighters in all of gamindustri, that it didn't even see me. " **Volcanic dive!** "

" **V slash!"**

" **Rainy Ratnapura!** " _These girls sure have more skills than me, huh? Wait, now's not the time to feel like shit. That's for later._

"Ok then." I took a deep breath then rushed directly to Momus' left back leg. "Here we go, **Nightmare Edge!** " A strange dark energy that I didn't really know, nor care about formed around the edge of the sword. I struck at the monstrosities' leg, The sword lodged itself into it's leg, going about halfway through.

"ARRRRRRRRGHHHHHII" Momus screamed and fell onto it's knees.

"Yeah, I've been waiting for this. Everyone, all out attack!" I ordered from behind momus.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Iffy yelled as she lead everyone into attacking the downed Momus. _Alright, now time to get out of here._ I pulled at my sword, only for it to not give. _Huh? You've gotta be shitting 'VE GOTTA BE SHITTING ME!_

"G-Guy wait! Give me a sec!"

"ATTACK!" Neptune's lost herself to her strange violent tendency.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" I let go of the sword and ran out of the danger zone. I hid behind a piece of rubble as the sounds of death was happening behind me.

"DIE DIE DIE!" Blanc's voice rang out the most. _S-She sure is something._

After the sounds of death dissipate, I brought my head above the rubble. "A-Are you done?"

"Hm? Yea, D-Darling." The girls were back to normal. The only thing left of Momus' body was Blood scythe on the ground. The normal Vert went over to Blood Scythe in order to hand it to me. She bent down to pick it up only to be unable to.

"W-What is this? Why is it so heavy?!"

"Probably cuz your not as cool as me." I shake of my fear from earlier and walk over to the girls. I tap the sword with my foot and it dissipated into golden pixels.

"I'm sure I could have lifted it if I worked harder..." Vert pouted and looked towards where Arfoire stood. "A-Anyway. What now, Arfoire?!"

Arfoire shook for a minute. But then she smirked. "What made you think that you defeated Momus?"

"What are you-" The floor that we stood on began to shake, and pixels in the air began to merge together. Revealing Momus who stood in between us and Arfoire. "Ah... well then." Neptune dropped to her knees and looked to the ceiling. "DANG ITTTT! How was that? Did I seem like Arcy there?"

"This is not the time dammit!" Everyone took their ready positions again. _This isn't gonna go well. No matter how many times we get rid of this bastard it'll...I got it!_ "Ok guys. Cover me!" I ran ahead, surprising the girls. I slid underneath the Overlord's legs, and pulled a pair of twin swords and shoved them into it's right hind leg. Only for them to reflect of the leg. "Well-" The monster kicked it's leg back, smashing it into my stomach. "Shit!" I flew back and landed next to the pillar, where Arfoire and the Book of Histoire were.

"Kahahaha! You think you can defeat it the same way?! It's an overlord. It learns, idiot." Arfoire shoved her foot into my face, grinding her heel against my cheek. "How pathe-" Before arfoire could finish her insult, she was sent flying when a boot collided with her face.

"Get the hell off of my partner you old hag!" The boot belonged to Iffy who seemed quite peeved. So much so that smoke was coming out of her mouth every time she breathed out.

"T-Thanks Iffy..." She seemed to calm down, breathed out a long sigh and cracked her back.

"S-Sorry about that. I guess I get a bit angry when you're...you're...AH! DAMN IT!" Iffy ran towards Momus with a frustrated expression. "I'm taking it out on you dammit! **Heavenly Slash!** " Iffy's qutars grew white as she slashed Momus in a X pattern. In the next moment, Momus exploded into a sea of pixels. "Why do I still feel so frustrated?!" behind her, Neptune and Nowa appeared in their CPU forms. Both putting a hand on Iffy's shoulders and giving her a knowing smile with similarly frustrated expressions. _Why does weird shit always happen with those three? They must be doing something weird or something. Why do I always say something? Well, something is a social construct that-_

As I began to fall into the mental hole that was the word something I was hit in the head with...something. "God fuck. What was that?" It was a small piece of stone. "What the?"

"Gotcha bitch!" When I went to pick the stone up, I was suddenly pierced with a spear. It sent me charging to a wall and quite literally sis-kebabed me. "Well well well. Look what I caught myself. A fresh king." _Shit shit shit shit! It hurts it hurts it hurts!_ The foreign object in my body was the spear that belonged to none other than Arfoire. "I wonder what I can get myself with this?"

I opened my mouth to speak, only for blood to some gushing out. _Shit shit shit! Why? Why's this always gotta happen to me?_ I looked down, it seemed like the spear had pierced me right in my stomach, I could feel it begin to get flooded by blood. _Stop it..._

"A-Arc!" The girls all yelled when they saw me in my sorry state.

"Let him go!" The three girls who were acting weird earlier, all of a sudden got serious and said in unison.

"Why should I?"

"Let him go!" Neptune flew forward first, only to get struck down my purple lighting before she could even get halfway to us.

"Arc. " Iffy, somehow made it all the way to me, tried to grab the spear, only to get back handed by Arfoire and sent flying next to Neptune.

"..." Nowa stood silent. "Move."

"Oh? Why should I?"

"I... what the hell do you want?!" Our powers? Our countries?! Just tell me and I'll..."

"You wouldn't actually give up everything you had just for one lousy boy would you?" Arfoire glanced at Neptune, Iffy and then back at Nowa. "Oh my god. OH MY GOD YOU ACTUALLY WOULD! Oh, you girls are priceless! To think that one stupid human would actually be the key to getting you out of my way! How amazing." _What are you idiots doing?_

"He's quite important to us." Vert injected. "Both as a friend, and more to some of us." _What are you idiots talking about?_

"Just fucking tell us what you want already. He's gonna...die if you last any longer bitch!" _Why are you guys acting so stupid? Just leave..._

"Arcy..." Compa's helpless eyes barreled into me. _Why are you looking at me like that?_

"..." _Why are you quite for once?_

"You guys don't honestly...care about me. Do you?" I managed to squeak out. "You guys are fucking goddesses and super powerful people. Just fucking grabe Histoire and get out of here. I don't matter..."

"What happened to becoming King? To actually doing something?"

"He could always find another Candidate, it's not like I'm special." Neptune's eyes screamed at me that I gave her the wrong answer.

"You're my partner. Of course I'd care about you!"

"A partner is great, but it doesn't matter. You'll do way better without me. I'm not worth the trouble..."

"THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE!" Nowa yelled. "HOW DARE YOU DAMINE YOURSELF IN THIS WAY?!"

"Nowa?"

"You are Arc S.W. are you not?! Then act like him!" Nowa seemingly got so frustrated that she had lost control of her CPU form. "The Arc I know would shrug this off. He would say that this doesn't hurt at all and would complain about getting his shirt dirty." _AHHH Why would you mention that! Now I noticed it._ "He'd just spit in Arfoire face and say that he's just hungry. So then, I will ask again. Are you Arc S.W."

"Yea..."

"Yes. You are. You're Arc. You're the... the..." Nowa suddenly began to get tears in her eyes.

"Aw just say it already!" Iffy yelled from where she sat.

"Yea! Confess already!" _What are these girls-_

"You're the man that I fell in love with so just act like it already!" Nowa yelled at the top of her lungs with an extremely reddened face. _Huh?_

"Huh?" Arfoire seemingly had the same thought that I had. _N-Noire is in love with me? W-What?! For real?! T-Then I..._

"Man, it really sucks to lose you know, but it doesn't mean that the game is over yet!" Neptune stood up from where she lay.

"I know what you mean. But, we have a chance for when she messes up!" _Noire loves me? What what what what what what what?! What is what? Oh no, I'm falling to the loop again. What is when-_

"L-Like I'll mess up!" Nowa joined the two of them and took their ready stances.

"Tch, this sure is annoying. At this rate I'll lose..." Arfoire whispered to herself."I got it." She snaps her fingers and turns to the girls. "How about this, I just let the boy go. In exchange for Neptune's powers?"

"What?! No! Neptune don't-" Suddenly the pain rushed back to me. "Agh!" _Dammit! I ended up forgetting that I'm dying! All because Nowa had to freaking confess her feelings to me! Dammit, it hurts._

"I'll just give you mine!" Nowa tried to offer. "It's not fair that Neptune has to deal with my confession."

"No, it's fine." Neptune stopped Nowa and stepped forward. "You can take my powers as long as it will save him."

"Hmmm. Don't mind if I do. But why would an idiot like you do this when you've got shit ti gain."

"Just because i don't love Arc as much as lonely heart, doesn't mean I'll just stand by as he dies. He's important to me after all." _They care about me? I...see. So it wasn't just one sided, huh? They're my friends... Then it won't be a burden._

"Ok then." Arfoire grabbed Neptune's head and a purple aura glew from her hand. As the light dissipated, Neptune fell onto the ground in her normal form. "Now then. Time for my side of the deal." Arfoire casually walked over to me and grabbed hold of the spear in my gut.

"Enjoy those powers while you can, Arfoire. I promise I'll get them back to her so fast, you'll think I'm a blue blur."

"Kehehe. Try me, King." Right when she pulled the spear from my gut, pain rushed throughout my entire body as I heard the sound of copious amounts of liquid hitting the ground. Right then and there, I blacked out.


	25. Chapter 24

I awoke to the soft sounds of snoring around me. "Again?" My eyes lazily slid open as I took note of where I was. I was in Compa's apartment however, I didn't seem to be on the couch as normal. I was on a large pink bed. Large enough to fit two or three people. _So that's how these girls make due with this place._ The room was dark, due to the fact that it was the middle of the night, as evident from the moon that was clearly visible from the open window.

"The moon sure is beautiful tonight, isn't it?" A soft voice said from beside me. It belonged to one of the Goddesses of this world, and that was Lady Noire. AKA, Nowa as I, now affectionately, call her.

"Don't be sly. I know that's another way of saying 'I love you'. Jeez girl. I get you dig me, but gimme a break." I say in an obviously sarcastic tone, garnering a light punch in the arm from the CPU. "What are you doing awake?"

"..." Her face became red as she started at the moon. "I was worried about you. I couldn't get a wink of sleep without thinking...about...agh! Why are you making me say such things idiot?!" Nowa whisper yelled at me.

"I'm fine. You need to get some rest. By the way, how long was I out?"

"Just for about five hours."

"I see. That's good. Looks like I'm getting better at the whole getting beaten up thing." Nowa pouted.

"Sorry..."

"Jeez. It's my fault for being reckless." I attempt to sit up, only to get a rush of pain from my gut. _Yeah, we're not doing that._ I lay back down and yawn. "Nowa is there any-" before I could even finish my sentence, Nowa put a bottle of ice cold water into my hand. "Well that was awesome, and weird." I sit up enough to drink the water and hand it back to Nowa. "Thanks."

"..." She just nodded.

"...I can't get any sleep if you're just gonna sit there awkwardly. What's wrong?" Nowa scooched her chair a bit closer to the bed.

"W-Well, I told you how I felt earlier today. S-So I-I'd l-like t-to-"

"I love ya too, K? So it's all good."

"H-Huh? HUH?!" Nowa almost jumped out of her chair. "Y-You love me?! R-Really?!"

"Yea...sorta realized it a couple days ago. But it's whatever." I tried my best to brush off the whole confession situation. _Ugh, I never thought that I could feel embarrassment._ "Sooo, what happened with the whole Histoire thing?"

"Oh, you'll see." Nowa uncharacteristically was sly and giggled.

"What's that supposed to mean? Jeez, since when did you get so playful?"

"Well, that's your fault. You're quite the influence." Nowa giggled as she stood up from her chair. "Good Night D-Darling. I-I'll see you in the morning. Ok?"

"OHHH! So THAT'S why you call me Darling! Man, that makes so much sense." Nowa just sighed and walked out the room. Before she closed the door she looked back at me.

"Idiot." _Man, she really is a tsundere._

The next morning, I awoke to the sounds of birds chirping and crickets in the distance. I swear I could hear a lovely flute. "Ah. What a lovely morning."

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

"Try me!"

"Muda muda! WRYYYYYY!" _I hate, I hate, I HATE!_

"Would you guys let me rest in peace?!" I jumped out of my bed at slammed the door open. "What are you guys even-" On the other side of the door was the group of seven girls grouped around the Tv, with each of the four goddesses with a gaming controller in their hand. However, one thing stood out. There was a girl with blond hair in twintails who couldn't be more than two feet tall, sitting on a large floating book. "..." _I'm still dreaming, right? I must be. I've gotta be._

"Ah, you must be Arc." The girl wore a purple dress with yellow and white frills around the skirt and a blue tie. She had purple detached sleeves with the same frills as her sleeves. With her dress came white stockings and white shoes. The weirdest part about her, to me at least was the fact that she wore a nursing cap with a purple N on it. Like the Ns that had appeared on the fragment keys and Neptune's sweater. Oh, she's also got purple and blue fairy wings, which were lovely.

"Uhhhhhh"

"My name is Histoire. I wanted to personally thank you for assisting in helping me. Thank you, Lord Arc." Histoire respectfully bowed from her seating position.

"Y-You're Histoire? Why are you so tiny?!" Histoire sighed.

"P-Please. I'm very self conscious..."

"Alright. Sorry Histoire." I had the urge to pet the girl on her head, but I had no idea how to do it. Her head was smaller than my hand. _She's so small...but_ "You're so cute, Histoire. Don't worry about your height. Alright?" Histoire giggled and seemingly cheered up.

"Thank you." Histoire flew back to the girls. "Now that Arc is awake, I think it's time that we discuss what we will do next, now that Arfoire's taken Neptune's powers." I nod and walk over to the group. I take an empty chair and drag it behind me, sitting next to the couch. Before I could even notice, Nowa was sitting right next to me.

"Woah, you sure are fast."

"..." She nodded as her face started turning into a tomato. _Ah shit! More like a pepper! Nah, hate that shit too. Fuck... an apple? Apples are ok I guess?_

"Well, what are we gonna do?" I ask.

"I've got to go back to Leanbox." Vert spoke up first. "Apparently, some stuff is going down there and Yvoire and the others really need me. Something about a clone..."

"Interesting. Because apparently another clone showed up in Lowee. I've gotta go take care of it too."

"Same here..." Nowa mentioned. "Arfoire is definitely planning something."

"Sooo, what are we gonna do? We gonna go around together?" Neptune questioned.

"Sorry, but no." Vert calmly stated. "If we wait for even a moment, who knows what will the clones try to do."

"Hmmm. Have there been any clones that have showed up here?"

"No." Iffy answered. "I tried all of my sources, not a single word about Purple Heart being spotted in Planeptune."

"I see... Welp. Let's go take care of this! Ugh..." I shoot up from my seat, only to get a rush of pain from my stomach.

"Absolutely not!" Nowa suddenly said. "You're not healed yet. There is no way in hell I'll let you even leave this house!"

"Nah, I'm fine! It just hurts a little bit. It's not that bad."

"You've got a fucking hole in your stomach!"

"Well, isn't that how a stomach is supposed to work?"

"...He's got a point." Neptune pointed out.

"Thanks Neptune! You see, I'm totally fine. Just really hungry."

"...Let's go." Nowa, Blanc and Vert left the room, leaving the five of us there, confused.

"Well whatever. I guess we'll start later. Who's up for some breakfast?!"

"Yea!"

"*Sigh* I guess we can start tomorrow." Histoire said as she followed us to the kitchen.

* * *

"Hmm..." I was forced into Compa's room and locked in there by Compa herself. Apparently, my wound had already closed by the time the girls had gotten me back here last night. The problem is my internal organs. But that's whatever, I really couldn't care less about that. But the one thing that was bothering me was... "Why haven't I had any dreams with Nes anymore?"

The guy hasn't contacted me in at least a week. Normally, the guy would jump to the opportunity to make fun of me for getting myself hurt. Or make fun of me for losing to Nowa in the confession competition. _Honestly, him ignoring me is super annoying. How the hell am I supposed to become King if the bastard doesn't teach me anything! That damn deadbeat!_ "HERE I CO-UGH!" I could hear Neptune from outside. She sounded like she was gonna try and come in but was stopped by something.

"Is everything ok?" I yell out.

"M-My baby maker..."

"You sound fine."

Iffy opened the door slightly and walks in. Closing the door behind her. "Hey there, Partner. How you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Just bleeding internally. How you been?"

"I'm... just a bit disappointed." Iffy walks over and sits on the chair next to the bed. "Noire sure had a lot of guts, huh?"

"I guess so. Sure more than me." _I did refuse to even think her name in the context of me liking her. God that was weird._

"Same here..." Iffy sighed. "But I'm proud of her! She seriously is pretty obsessed with you, you know."

"What?"

"The time that we went out the day after you woke up, all she did was try to find a way to make you eat tomatoes. And yet, she bought you plain rice. She's quite invested in you."

"... You ok Iffy?"

"N-Not really." Iffy clutched her coat. "Hey, Arc. W-We're gonna stay best friends forever, right?" Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. _Iffy..._

I sat up and placed my hand on her head. Ruffling her hair a bit. "Of course. You are, and always will be my partner. I owe you my life multiple times over. I'm gonna stick by you till you get sick of me! And even then, I won't leave. Got it? So don't get depressed Iffy. It...hurts. And I'm gonna make sure that we get through this crap and anything else that comes by us. But do me a favor and give me a bit of lee way. I'm still quite shit and unbalanced in this world full of OP characters."

"Hehe. Of course." Iffy wiped away the tears in her eyes and spread out her arms. "Can I?"

"What else are buddys for?" I leaned in and gave Iffy a hug.

"You better keep your promise." She whispered in my ear during the hug.

"If I don't you can kick my ass."

"Kehehe. I'm sure I can do that already."

"Yea, but..." Iffy giggled and broke off the hug.

"Alrighty then Partner, You better get better soon. We don't want to disappoint that Lady of yours." Iffy got up from the seat and made her way to the door. "Oh yea. Thanks for cheering me up."

"I wasn't cheering you up. I was just reminding you of the promise of a partner. You and me are tied together by fate. Don't for get that best bud!"

"Hmmm." Iffy thought for a second before flashing me a bright smile full of genuine happiness. "I won't. Promise." With that, she left the room.

"I'll stick by you. I promise..." _You're my first best friend after all..._

 **5 hours later**

There was a certain...thing in the air. It was a strange feeling. I felt...bad. Well, it was quite obvious why I felt bad. After all, I did have about thirty plastic bags and containers spread around my body. The girl who did it sat next to me, eating a giant lollipop. "A lolli for the loli! Yippie!"

"Get these damn bags off me dammit!" The purple haired goddess lazily picked up a single bag and threw it onto the ground. "Neptune..."

"Fine..." She threw the lollipop in the air and within a second, the entire room was clean from the plastic atrocities. She grabbed the lollipop in as it fell into her hand and began to lick it once more. "Perfecto."

"Well...I have to say that I am impressed. Good job Neptune."

"Yup. I'm not the protagonist for nothin!" She was smiling when she said that but her smile turned sad.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"I wonder. Is it better to be the protagonist or the heroine?"

"Huh? Why the hell would you ask that?"

"I don't know..."

"Jeez. Just because you lost your powers doesn't mean you can give up on being the protagonist. You're the girl who would argue with me for hours about this and you wanna question yourself? Come on girl."

"Hmmm. I don't know if you're being mean or nice right now."

"I'm just saying. You're the girl who set this whole thing off in the first place...I never did thank you for that, did I?"

"What do you mean?"

"If it wasn't for you almost killing me when you fell from the sky, I wouldn't have gone on this weird adventure. I probably would be at an Inn right now, sleeping my days away with nothing to do. Now, I'm set to become the next fucking king of the world and I've...I've finally got some friends for the first time in my life. That's all thanks to you. You know that? I'm really thankful."

"Well...you're welcome I guess." Neptune seemed genuinely surprised by my thanks. "W-Well, how will you repay me?"

"Well, I am destined to babysit you for all of eternity. You know that right?"

"Kehehehehehe! So you mean you're gonna do anything I want for the rest of time?"

"I did not say that."

"Yay! I finally got myself a man servant! I've gotta go make a list of what I want you to do for me!"

"Neptune I didn't-"

"This is gonna be sooo fun! Besto dayo ofo za Warldo!"

"*Sigh* Alright." The girl who I'm stuck with skipped out of the room. Lollipop in hand. "I'm definitely gonna regret this. But at least she's happy."


	26. Chapter 25

_**AN: Hey there! It's your boi! Sorry I came back later than expected. Some other shit got in the way. But I'm back and we can go back to our regularly scheduled programming! Anyway, updates will go back to normal. Two chapters two weeks. Soooo, yea. Part one has a good four-five updates until it ends. So, I hope this ends up ok.**_

* * *

"..."

"W-Well then. H-How are you?"

"..."

"A-Arc?" I stood in the lobby of Leanbox's Basilicom, right in front of old man Yvoire.

"Jeez, old man. I'm thinking for a bit." Even after all of his apologies, I still couldn't find myself to forgive the old bastard for almost killing Neptune. But, I've gotta deal with him cuz apparently I'm not allowed in Vert's room again or whatever. "I bet that lady just doesn't want me to make fun of her games."

"M-Most likely." The guy could see my utter disdain for him. He always grew nervous when talking to me. "*Sigh* I wish they'd be faster."

"Yeah, yeah." I rested my arms on the front desk. _How did we even end up coming here..._

 **Ten hours ago**

"Sooo, what do we do?" The six of us sat in Compa's small kitchen. I brought up the question. "Shouldn't we help the others?"

"Hmmm. I agree with Lord Arc. We can not allow the organization to win this war! We will take over the world!"

"MAGES. that literally makes no sense. These girls already have a lot of power in the world." I reluctantly sipped my coffee. _Agh! Why is it so sweet?!_ I looked over at Compa, who was making a cup of coffee for Iffy and I witnessed her pouring half a pound of sugar into it. _H-How is that even possible?! Wouldn't the coffee get sucked up by the sugar?! Holy fuck._

"Here you go Iffy!" Compa walked over to her and handed her the cup. Iffy had seen the same scene as I have and slowly took it.

"T-Thank you Compa..." Iffy had tears in her eyes. _Compa, you truly are too pure for this world. Ah, fuck it!_ I downed my own coffee.

"Ahhhh. H-Hey Iffy, y-you gonna drink that?" I could feel my heart begin to drown in the sugar.

"Well, I-"

"Please..." Iffy smiled and pushed her cup to me. _You owe me. The things I'd do for a friend._ I took a deep breath and chugged the coffee. _Oh god. OH GOD_ My heart began to beat extremely fast. It sorta reminded me of when Nowa confessed. Except this time I wanted to die.

"Awww! Do you really love my coffee that much Arcy?" _Compa..._

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Yeah! It's da best! Gahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" _I feel like my heart's gonna explode! Help meeeeee!_ "S-S-S-So! WHACHA GONNA DO NOW?"

"Uhhhh. I think we should head over to Leanbox for now. My sources are telling me that they're having the hardest time."

"How how how how how how hbow jsabf"

"Noire's doing the best as of right now. Don't worry. Hell, she's already got her army looking that clone. She's pretty good." _That's not what I was gonna ask, but ok. Thanks Iffy._

"ALLLLRIGHTY THEN!" Neptune stood up from her chair. Let's goooooo!" The girl jumped out the open kitchen window and landed directly in front of the buildings entrance. "Hurry up!"

"Perhaps Lady Neptune had too much coffee." MAGES. said, getting her stuff ready.

"How many cups did she have?"

"Fifteen!" Compa happily answered Iffy. _HOW IS THAT GIRL ALIVE?!_

"Yahoooo!"

"Kill me" I returned from my weird flashback and was in the middle of a crash. _God, I can barely take one cup of coffee without dying. Why am I like this?_

"A-Are you ok?"

"I've been worse." I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. _I. Need. Some. Food._

"My my. You sure look pathetic today don't you, my Lord." Vert walked down the hall to my right.

"Give me a break. I just recovered from having a lance in my gullet."

"Eh. You've had worse." The woman giggled. "But it's so good to see you again!"

"It's only been two days."

"Hehe." Vert grabbed onto the back of my neck. _Oh god, no!_ As expected, she pulled me into her bosom. "Ah, I've missed hugging you! You're soooo cute!"

"Mamaoa!" My words refused to make sense.

"That tickles! Oh my, do you really think it's ok to do this Cutie? Doesn't this count as cheating?" _Then stop doing this to me, dammit!_ For once, Vert let me go with a heartfelt laugh. "Now then. Let us go to the cafeteria. Your party is waiting there for you." We began walking down the hallway to the cafeteria.

"They wouldn't have to wait for me if you just let me into your room in the first place."

"I was playing a game that...would make you quite uncomfortable."

"You don't know that. What was it called?"

"Butt Party 69."

"Thank you for your consideration."

"Hehe. You're welcome." With that, we had entered the cafeteria where immediately felt a sense of dread. _It FEELS spicy in here. AND I LOVE IT!_ I could feel the spices emanating from some of the dishes on the table. Of course everyone had already begun eating without me.

"You sure this food isn't poisoned?"

"Arcy...do you really think that little of me?"

"It was a joke Vert. Sorry." I sit down next to Iffy. "Lunch...finally!"

"Try the peppers. They are to die for!"

"I'd actually much rather not." Iffy giggled.

"You're to picky."

"I'm not picky! I just fucking hate most veggies. I'd rather eat dog food than that."

"*Sigh* You're so childish, Arcy. You've gotta learn how to be a true adult. Like me!" Neptune said as she was eating a chicken leg.

"That's rich coming from you, Loli Child."

"Well, that's just how the System Works." I actively cringed.

"I-It's S.W. dammit!" I drank some water to calm myself down then looked at the head of the table. Where Vert sat. "Anyway, what's the situation with the clone?"

"Well...that's the issue. We have no idea where she's gone." Vert relaxed into her seat. "Ever since I came back to Leanbox, the clone had apparently gone into hiding. There have been rumors of a transformed Green Heart around the mountains near here, but I was waiting for you all to go look into it."

"I grantee you that she's there now." _That's how it always works. Whenever someone waits for us, a boss battle always waiting for us. This is gonna be..._ "*Sigh* Give me a break..."

"Don't worry Arcy. We'll get through this together." Compa stood up, walked over to me and patted my back.

"Compa..." I didn't have the heart to tell her that she was most of the reason why I needed a break. _God, I'm gonna crash any second now._ "T-Thanks."

"Hehehehe." _2Pure5Me_

"By the way, where is lady Histoire?" Vert asked while elegantly eating eating a plate of caviar.

"We left her at home in Planeptune." I answered. "It would be to dangerous to take her with us with Arfoire going around, doing shit."

"I see...good idea."

"So then. What are we waiting for? Let us go and attack the mistress who dare to stand in your way, Lady Vert!" MAGES. shot up and grabbed a large basket of chicken. "For the road. Now then, forward!"

"Yeah! Let's a go!" Neptune grabbed her plate and ran out the door.

"I haven't even eaten yet. Whyyyyyyy?!" Iffy grabbed the back of my collar and pulled me out the cafeteria.

"I know...I know."

* * *

"Well that's...something." As we reached the peak of the mountains near Leanbox's capital city, large heaps of garbage littered the path.

"I never thought that litter would be such a problem here. Perhaps I should start a program for environmental protection." Vert said, as she used her napkin to clean some mustard from her face. "But I must say, my chefs truly do know how to make some delicious meals."

"I guess you did stay away from here for a while. I'm sorry Lady Vert."

"Oh, no need to apologize Iffy. I'd do anything for you!" Vert then pulled Iffy into her infamous hug.

"Vert." She ignored my call. "*Sigh* Just don't kill her."

"What? Are you jealous?"

"Absolutely not...I'm tired." For some reason, the thought of Nowa doing that to me crossed my mind. _Won't be so bad...AHHH! Shut up! Not right now!_ With that stupid banter, we made it to the mountain peak. Sitting right there, on a folding chair, was a transformed Green Heart, eating a burrito. "..."

"Amazing! And I was just in the mood for a burrito!" _God dammit! Stop reminding me of how hungry I am!_

"Let's just get this over with already." When I finished my sentence, fake Vert drops the burrito and flies directly at me. "Aw come on!" I jump the side, getting a mouth full of dirt. But, at least I didn't get hit. Instead of tackling me, Fake Vert went face first into a large oak tree.

"Haha! That's what you get, faker!" After Vert said that, a pillar of white light surrounded her. Out of the pillar came Green Heart. "Now then. Why don't I take out the trash? **Rainy Ratnapura!** " Vert dashed forward, disappearing for a second, then reappearing on the other side of the tree that the fake hit. The area between where she disappeared and reappeared suddenly exploded into a flurry of green blades of air. Of course, the fake was right in the middle of it, taking the brunt of the attack. After the attack ended, the fake was covered in light cuts and blood. The tree on the other hand, better to just call it fire wood. "My my. I forgot how powerful that was." _S-Scary..._

"..." The fake said nothing as she stood up. " **Rainy Ratnapura.** "

"Of course you could copy me!" Before Vert could block the fake had already disappeared. Reappearing near myself. "Shit!" Vert was caught in the middle. Her body with no way to protect from her own attack. After the attack a certain difference became known. _Vert's cuts are deeper!_ Not only that, but the woman, was also bleeding more profusely. "So she's stronger than me..."

"Shit, fuck!" I finally got my ass of the ground and moved away from her. The fake had her eyes glued on me from the beginning of our encounter with her for some reason.

"Candidate. **Sylhet Spear**." A green magic circle appeared by her hand, with a spiked vine shooting out of it.

"C-Crap! **Gate:** " _Dammit! I'm to late! It's already right in front of me I can't-_ " **Stop my enemies. Chains of Development. "** I said unconsciously. Multiple golden portals appeared behind me, faster than I could see, chains shot out and stopped the vine in it's place. Wrapping around it. "Woah! I didn't know I could do that!" The chains then pulled back and released, sending the vine right back to it's sender. The fake, not expecting this took the attack full on. _Hey, that's pretty good._ "Y-Yea, that was totally on purpose!"

"Ayyy, nicu Arcu. Now then, please help." Neptune had asked, while helping Vert stand up.

"I-I'll try." _How the hell did I even do that in the first place?_ I shake the thought out of my head and run over to help lift Vert.

"Arc, do you think that you can do that again to keep the fake still?" Iffy asks.

"Maybe. But don't count on it."

"Don't worry. I never counted on you in the first place." Neptune said with glee as she rushed down the fake.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" The girls laugh at my out burst and rush to the fake as well, with me following begrudgingly. Neptune jumps into the air throws her sword towards the fake. The fake tried to block the attack, but the velocity made it so that her spear was forced out of her hand.

"Arcy, if you would." Vert sang to me.

"*Sigh* This is gonna tire me out. **Chains of Development**." The chains wrapped around the fake Lady Green Heart. Keeping her in place. "*Sigh*"

"Now then. **EXE: SPIRAL BREAK!** " Vert flew back and grabbed the fake by her neck. Taking both her and herself into the sky. She then threw the fake into the air and disappeared. Next second, she pierced through her multiple times until the fake literally exploded. "Well that was fun. Now then, let's head back~" Vert turned back to her normal self and began walking away from the battle site.

"H-Huh?! That's it? Really? We weren't even here for ten minutes!"

"Welp! That was fun, huh?" The girls all did as Vert did and ignored my cries.

"DAMMIT! I MISSED LUNCH FOR THIS?!" _Well, at least I got a cool new power!_

 **Later...**

"*Sigh* Now that is what I call a good meal." I lie down on a bed that Vert had given me for the night. "But now what? It's only seven and I'm not even that sleepy..." In the distance I heard a familiar yell of Neptune followed by Iffy. Then rapid footsteps. "I'm not dealing with this. Not today." I jump up from my bed and lock the door.

"ARC! OPEN UP!" As I was walking back to my bed, Neptune slammed onto my door and tried to open it. "ARCYYYYYY!"

"Sleeping. G'Night." With that Neptune ran off, probably because of whoever was chasing her was catching up. "That girl always gets herself into trouble." I lay down on the bed and grabbed my phone. "What to do, what to do..." After a few minutes of browsing the internet my phone had begun to rang, and it was a number that I didn't know. "Hel-"

"FINALLY! I've been trying to call you forever! Why didn't you pick up, huh?! Is this really how you treat you G-G-G-G-"

"Girlfriend. Hey Nowa. how you doing?" _I guess she must be calling me from her Basilicom._

"F-Fine..." Almost immediately, Nowa's harsh tone had disappeared. "No! I'm not fine! What happened?"

"Oh, my phone was off till just a second ago. I'm sorry."

"Sorry?! I was super worried! Are you injured? Did anything happen in your fight with the fake Vert?"

"Huh? How'd you know about that?"

"..." Nowa instantly went silent. "I-I just guessed."

"*Sigh* Whatever, but I'm ok. Nothing major really happened. But how are you? Seriously."

"As I said, I'm fine. The search for the fake me has lead to nothing though. No sightings at all. Honestly, I can't tell if it's bad or good."

"...Well I'm glad your ok at least. I kinda want to go to Lastation first but Vert needed the help asap."

"..."

"Nowa?"

"N-Nothing. J-Just hurry up and get here when you can. I don't have time to keep worrying about you. It's better if you just stick to me."

"Are you saying you want me to be with you forever?"

"H-HUH?! N-No! N-Not necessarily..."

"So is that a yes?"

"S-Stop teasing me! I'm ending this phone call! Bye!"

"Bye, Nowa. Love you."

"...Love you too." She whispered the last part as she hung up.


	27. Chapter 26

"Give me a break...why is it so cold." We hadn't even left the train yet and it was still really cold.

"Because what would a winter wonderland be without cold Arcy! Don't be a dum dum." Neptune said, hugging the very coat that I had gotten her.

"*Sigh* I guess you have a point. Even if it is a flimsy one." Neptune, Compa, Iffy and I were on our way to Lowee after helping out in Leanbox. Wait a minute... where the hell is MAGES.? Right when I thought about it, my phone had rumbled. I looked at it and instantly had my answer.

"I had gotten a hint at a way to acquire the magical item! I will get back to you all when I have the chance. See you later, Sir Alligator!"

"What's wrong, Arcy?" Neptune asked.

"Nothing. This is just gonna give me a headache..." I slowly get up and walk out of the train, pinching the bridge of my nose. We had successfully made it to Lowee.

After we had helped Vert with her clone issue, she had immediately sent us off on a train straight to Lowee. Granted, we did get a message from Fencer telling us that they needed help Immediately. "What could be going on that they need help so much?" Iffy asked, walking off of the train.

"Maybe the fake popped up. Actually, that's the most likely issue." I reluctantly say. However, right as I moved off of the train and caught a glimpse of the winter wonderland of this country, a smile grew on my face. "Ahhh, so beautiful!"

"It's so nice!~" Compa shared my sentiment as we walked out onto the street. "I didn't get to notice how nice Lowee looked last time. Now I know why you like this country so much Arcy!"

"Ahhh, I know right? The snow looks so nice."

"Would be great if it was warmer." Neptune said as she hugged herself.

"Equivalent exchange, my friend."

"I don't care, I want to be warm!"

Stop acting like a brat!" Neptune stuck her tongue out to me when I said that. "Why you-" before we could even fight each other, we noticed the large crowd that was in front of the basilicom of the Lowee.

"Huh? What's going on?" Iffy asked a man that was on the outside of the crowd.

"Oh, the two Blanc's are totally fighting, dude." Dude?! Two Blancs?!

"Looks like we found them." I sighed as I attempted to make my way into the middle of the crowd. When I did, there stood two girls who looked Identical.

"How many times do I have to say it?! I'm the real Blanc!"

"Piss off! I'm the real Blanc!" Back and forth, back and forth, the two just kept going at it, with their conversation not leading to any conclusion.

"What the hell is goin on here?!" Neptune yelled when she caught up with me. "Double the Blanny?!"

"Don't call me that!" Both of the Blanc's yelled at Neptune, only to immediately go back to their argument. Interesting...the last clone didn't seem to have much intelligence for anything but fighting. Does this mean that they gain more intelligence as time goes on. Is that why they were hiding for that short time?

"This is never going to end." Iffy sighed when she and Compa caught up. "We gotta do something..."

"Do you know who's the real Blanc?" i asked my group.

"..."

"Cool. Looks like I have to fix things again..."

"Yup, this is the only time when you are useful! So go ahead and fix this!" Neptune laughed. Were it not for the laws of this land I would have ended you by now.

"*Sigh* Ok then laddies. It's time for the special annual 'Who is the True Lady Blanc!'" Out of nowhere, Family feud music began playing.

"Huh? Why the hell do we even have to do this?! I think it's fairly obvious that I am the real Blanc." Contestant number one said.

"Shut the fuck up, bitch! I'm Blanc!" Contestant number two yelled.

"Yup, we really do need to do this. Now then," A random man in the crowd threw a microphone to me, which I uncharacteristically caught. "Here are the rules of the game. I will ask you two a series of questions that only the true, Lady Blanc would know. With these questions, I will be able to tell who is the true, lady Blanc."

"Hehe. This gonna be easy. Now I'll get to show everyone that I am the true one, you damn fake." Contestant number one said confidently.

"Fuck off! I'll be the one who wins!" Contestant number two yelled again.

"Now the, question number one. What is the population of Lowee?"

"That's easy as hell!" Contestant number 2 said. "It's...uhhh..."

"Two point five million citizens." Contestant number one answered. "This isn't going good for you so far faker."

"Ugh..."

"Second question! Ten years ago an event happened in Lowee's capital city. What event was that?"

"..." The second contestant stayed silent.

"The snow festival. It was not held again in ten years due budgeting issues. I'll make sure it happens again." The first contestant snikkered.

"Things don't look so good for the second contestant."

"I know, is that one the fake?"

"How dare they pretend to be Lady Blanc!" The voices of the crowd rang out.

"Now now. No need to jump to conclusions. Now then, final question! Who am I?"

"Arc, shut up! Of course I know you." Contestant number two answered."

"What a terrible answer, faker. He is the King's Candidate of course."

"Contestant number two is the real Blanc." Everyone except my group was surprised by my deduction. "Blanc would never call me by my title. There is also no way Blanc would know about the snow festival because she was in the middle of the console wars at the time. Plus, how would Blanc be able to know the population if she just came back?"

" He has a point."

"Yeah, that does make sense."

"Hahaha! I told you bitch! You're the damn faker! Damn cunt!"

"Ok Blanc, calm down." Blanc ignored me and kept laughing. "*sigh* Now then, what are we gonna do about-" Before I could finish my sentence, the fake had transformed and had swung its axe at me. "SHIT! Cha-" Before I could summon the chains, I got hit by the back side of the axe, causing me to be thrown all the way to the woods near the Basilicom. "Again..."

"Damn Bitch!"

"Arc!"

"Get her!"

"MUDA!" The rest of party yelled until about a second later they were all sent over to me as well, through the same method. "Well that sucks..."

"I guess it didn't go as planned eh?"

"Shut up!" Blanc transformed into White Heart. "I'll kill that bitch! I don't need another damn faker! I just finished dealing with one!"

"...Candidate." The fake White Heart whispered when she got near us.

"Why is it that they are after Arc all the time..." Iffy whispered to us. I got off my ass and stood up.

"Is it because he's the King's Candidate?" Compa questions as she pulled out her giant syringe.

"..." Why? No one should remember or care about the last King? I'm not even a powerful person and Arfoire knows that. It's not like I'll have...OHHHH! "She's after W, as well." She doesn't care about a damn king. Both Nes and I are still human. She could kill us anytime. Not World.

"W? What's that? Is that some kind of food?" Neptune began harassing me, jumping on my back and trying to dig through my pockets. "Gimme gimme gimme!"

"I don't have food dammit!" Suddenly, Blanc flew past us. I knew it was her because she was cursing the entire way. "Dammit! The fight already started and you were bugging me. See what happened Neptune!"

"Hey! I'm hungry." Neptune hopped off my back and ran towards the fake with her sword in hand. "Haha! I gotta make up for my act. Critical Edge!" A yellow light surrounded Neptune's sword as she slammed her sword onto the fake, she then teleported behind her. "Nothing personnel kid." She cut straight through her, ending up where she started, In front of me. "See, see! I did it!"

"It's personal. You wanted to say personal." I sighed and placed my hand on her head. "But I can't say that I wasn't impressed. Even if you tried to meme it."

"Nehehe." Neptune moved her head with the petting. "Head pats.~" She really is a child. As I was petting Neptune, a rustle in the bushed caught my attention.

"Candidate!" The fake shot out of the crater that Neptune's attack had thrown her into.

"Shit! Chains!" The chains of development had shot out of the portals around me, stopping the fake's attack mid-swing. "D-Damn."

"..." The fake simply stared at me. After a second, it dissipated into nothingness.

"Well that was annoying as hell." Blanc, now back in her normal form, had walked out of a bush, covered in snow. She brushed the snow off of herself and walked up to Neptune and I. "Are you ok, Arc?"

"Y-Yea." Blanc nodded.

"Alright. Let's go back to the basilicom. I'm tired and bored. I want to read something..." She began walking away from us. Neptune followed suit.

"Again..." It used it's final amount of strength to kill me again. Ugh...I'm just a little idiot! Leave me alone!

"Arc, hurry up, Dummy!" Neptune yelled from outside the forest.

"Yea, yea."

* * *

"Already?" The four of us are back on a train, this time to Lastation. "How did we end up on this again?"

"I have no idea." Iffy said, seemingly waking up. "Ugh... my head hurts."

"Uwahhh! Why's my seat so hard!" Compa was rolling around her seat.

"..." Neptune was seemingly asleep, cuddling with a plush of a Dogoo. Why is that Dogoo always haunting me... Agh! Just looking at that damn plush brings back the trauma! Get out of my pants! NOOOOOOO!

"God I hate my life." 

"Soooo, any idea? How we got here?" Iffy asked.

"Well, from the fact that Neptune is asleep and all of us don't remember how we got here. I'm guessing that Blanc out us on here while we were asleep. Dammit...she could have just told us she was gonna do that. Now my back hurts." I slumped over in my seat, my back cracked multiple times. "God, what the fuck."

"Whatever, at least we got on the train. How far are we from getting to Lastasion anyway?"

"Welcome to Lastation!"

"Well that answered my question." Iffy stood up from her seat, somehow waking Neptune up.

"I'm up! I'm hungry!" Neptune jumped up and threw her Dogoo plush at me.

"Ah! Get it off of me! Stop it! Not again!" I threw the plush at Neptune again.

"Jeez. calm down. It's not that serious."

"Why..."

"Anyway, where are we?" Iffy and Compa simply sighed and began to leave the train, will Neptune following, continuing to ask questions.

"Fuck me man. I really hate those damn things." After calming down, I stood up and left the train, only to be faced with a large group of guards surrounding the exit of the cart. "I'm not even surprised anymore."

"A-Arcy! I think they caught us! Get outta here! Take the money! Burn the bodies!"

"Neptune, what are you talking about?! Stop digging us a hole!" Iffy smacked Neptune the back of her head.

"What are we gonna do..." Tears began forming in Compa's eyes.

"S-Should we be doing this..." a guard asked after seeing Compa.

"No now is our chance! These are the people harboring the fake Lady Black Heart!"

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me. Why? Like actually why?


End file.
